Johannesburg - The South African Local Government Association (Salga) on Thursday said it has called on the safety needs of councillors to be reviewed amid a recent spike of murders of municipal officials.
This week's murder of Councillor Thozama Njobe, the Speaker of Raymond Mhlaba Municipality in the Eastern Cape, was the latest attack on councillors.
After its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Ekurhuleni on Wednesday, Salga resolved that an urgent review of safety of councillors was necessary.
Concluding the meeting, Salga president councillor, Parks Tau, said the call to look into councillor safety was in-line with the ongoing discussions by the association on councillor welfare and support.
“The NEC agreed that the killing of councillors in recent times was an indictment on the local government sector and its constitutional mandate of service delivery. This is particularly the case as those targeted in the killings are service delivery foot soldiers, who have availed themselves to serve once elected by their communities,” Tau said.
He added that the NEC has greed to open deliberations on finding solutions to the brutal loss of councillors under the overall affairs of councillor welfare and support that Salga is looking into.
Salga communication manager, Tahir Sema, said in a statement that other items discussed included the Auditor General’s report and the action plan to address the findings.
Also tabled at the meeting was the outcomes of the recently held council of mayors and proposals for the upcoming council of speakers next month, as well as the adoption of Salga’s position on the Eskom 2018/19 revenue proposal as informed by the South African Constitution Act 108 of 1986.
Seema said Salga resolved to approach the courts to clarify powers of municipalities and those of Eskom in respect of the reticulation and distribution of electricity.