The Sarah Baartman District Municipality is attempting to bail out troubled Makana Municipality by loaning it their municipal manager Ted Pillay for three months.
The secondment of Pillay to Makana in an attempt to turn around the failing municipality has been on the cards for some months now.
Makana this week confirmed Pillay had started his three-month stint at his new office in Grahamstown on Thursday.
Pillay has his work cut out. He arrives at a time where the municipality has been without a municipal manager for years. It owes over R150-million to creditors and the wholesale collapse of infrastructure has become increasingly visible in the form of shockingly potholed roads, burst water pipes, sewage flowing through the veld and suburban streets and the proliferation of informal dumping sites, which have become a common eyesore throughout the city.
Pillay’s secondment follows Makana council’s rejection of a turnaround specialist offered by the cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) department. The municipality this week said in a press statement that the turnaround specialist came with an exorbitant price tag which the municipality could not afford.
The district authority will foot the bill for all Pillay’s expenses, said Makana spokeswoman Yoliswa Ramakolo. Pillay will be expected to assist the institution with the long-awaited permanent appointment of a municipal manager, improvement of its revenue collection, assessing its debt, improving staff morale, reducing excessive overtime, improving service delivery and lobbying for funding.
Pillay ‘loaned out’ in bid to save failing Makana authority
The secondment of Pillay to Makana in an attempt to turn around the failing municipality has been on the cards for some months now.
Makana this week confirmed Pillay had started his three-month stint at his new office in Grahamstown on Thursday.
Pillay has his work cut out. He arrives at a time where the municipality has been without a municipal manager for years. It owes over R150-million to creditors and the wholesale collapse of infrastructure has become increasingly visible in the form of shockingly potholed roads, burst water pipes, sewage flowing through the veld and suburban streets and the proliferation of informal dumping sites, which have become a common eyesore throughout the city.
Pillay’s secondment follows Makana council’s rejection of a turnaround specialist offered by the cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) department. The municipality this week said in a press statement that the turnaround specialist came with an exorbitant price tag which the municipality could not afford.
The district authority will foot the bill for all Pillay’s expenses, said Makana spokeswoman Yoliswa Ramakolo. Pillay will be expected to assist the institution with the long-awaited permanent appointment of a municipal manager, improvement of its revenue collection, assessing its debt, improving staff morale, reducing excessive overtime, improving service delivery and lobbying for funding.
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