Kimberley – The Northern Cape’s largest local municipality, Sol Plaatje, risks being placed under administration or even dissolved after it failed to comply with a Section 139 directive issued in March.
The directive, issued on 12 March, gave the council 14 days to provide reasons why the municipality should not be placed under administration or dissolved. The move follows repeated collapses of council meetings, including walk-outs triggered by deep divisions over the status of municipal manager Thapelo Matlala.
Matlala was placed on precautionary suspension last September after misconduct charges were levelled against him. He has since been in and out of court fighting to return to his position and is currently back at work, though not all councillors support his return, which has continued to cause disruptions in council proceedings.
During a meeting on 12 March aimed at addressing the governance and administrative challenges that began in September last year, proceedings collapsed after some councillors disrupted the session. Northern Cape MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA), Bentley Vass, who was present, expressed serious concern about the situation.
“We are concerned as a department about what is going on at the municipality,” said MEC Vass. He indicated that he is currently “applying his mind as to what the way forward should be in terms of law and applicable legislation.”
MEC Vass added that the next steps and decisions would focus on ensuring “good sound administrative governance at the municipality so that ultimately the municipality is able to provide good services.”
The department has not provided a clear timeline for when a final decision on intervention will be made. Sol Plaatje Municipality was not available for comment.
The ongoing instability at Sol Plaatje has raised broader worries about service delivery and effective local governance in the Northern Cape’s biggest municipality. Section 139 interventions allow provincial governments to step in when a municipality fails to fulfil its executive obligations, potentially including the appointment of an administrator to take over key functions.
No decision on administration or dissolution has been finalised, but the failure to respond to the directive has heightened the possibility of direct provincial intervention.