Press Statement by Sithi Silosini DA Councillor Lekwa Local Municipality
- The DA in Lekwa seeks answers on questions relating to certain Technical Service employees.
- The municipality is disregarding Council’s Standing Rules and evading accountability.
- We have asked the Municipal Manager to urgently address these questions.
12 August 2026
Release: Immediate
The Democratic Alliance in Lekwa calls on the acting Municipal Manager, Thobeka Mtshiselwa, to provide substantive answers to questions submitted by the DA in terms of the Council’s Standing Rules and Order regarding the qualifications and professional registration of officials in the Technical Services Department.
As things stand, the municipality’s Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG) and Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) are being administered by the Gert Sibande District Municipality because the municipality allegedly does not have properly qualified professional engineers.
As a result, the district municipality decides for Lekwa as to which infrastructure they need and don’t need. It must be noted that there are pressing infrastructural needs that need urgent attention but nothing is being done to address them.
The questions seek basic information necessary for Council to exercise effective oversight, and include:
- The names and positions of management officials within Technical Services who hold engineering-related qualifications;
- Their respective divisions or sections;
- The type of qualification, institution and year obtained;
- The number of officials registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), their registration categories, registration numbers and years of registration.
It is important for the municipality to also provide the Council with copies of the qualifications and professional registrations of the Head of Technical Services and the relevant managers responsible for Electricity, Water and Sanitation and the Project Management Unit (PMU).
There is no POPIA violation in asking these questions. The DA is not requesting private information unrelated to an employee’s duties. We are asking about the professional qualifications and registrations of officials entrusted with critical municipal responsibilities.
These are legitimate Council oversight questions, submitted in terms of the Standing Rules and Order. The administration cannot hide behind POPIA to avoid answering questions that are directly relevant to the competence and capacity of officials responsible for delivering essential services to Lekwa residents.
The continued failure to table these matters before Council, coupled with repeated attempts to deal with them directly with the councillor, raises serious concerns about the administration’s commitment to transparency and proper Council oversight.
With this in mind, we urge Mtshiselwa to stop the continued evasion and ensure that these questions and the accompanying motion are properly processed, included in the Council agenda and brought before Council without further delay.
If the administration has nothing to hide, there should be no difficulty in telling Council who is qualified, what qualifications they hold and whether the officials responsible for critical technical functions are professionally registered.
For media enquiries:
Sithi Silosini
DA Councillor Lekwa Local Municipality
076 708 2009