JOHANNESBURG-(MaraviPost)-South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed the new local government Municipal Systems Amendment Bill into law, barring municipal workers and senior managers from holding political office.
The laws come amid a wider effort to professionalize the public service and clamp down on questionable appointments in local government.
Among its far-reaching interventions, the new legislation is said to prevent municipal and senior managers, from holding political office, whether they have been appointed in a permanent, temporary or acting capacity.
With the new law, municipalities are also now required to maintain a record of disciplinary proceedings against staff members dismissed for misconduct which will be handed over to the Minister of Cooperative Governance Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to monitor.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya disclosed in an interview that the new legislation will improve the performance of local government, preventing the abuse of public resources and stamping out errant officials who move from municipality to municipality even after being found guilty of wrongdoing.
“A capable ethical state requires a strong foundation at local level and the new law will go a long way to building communities’ confidence in local government and enabling stronger partnerships and cooperation between municipalities and the communities they serve,” said Magwenya
He concluded that the law now directs that any staff member of any municipality who has been dismissed for misconduct may only be re-employed in a municipality after a period of five years.
