Durban - The IFP believes that the eThekwini Municipality should have been placed under the total control of an administrator instead of the Section 154 intervention.
The party’s chairperson in the district, Mdu Nkosi, believes that the rot in the only metro in KwaZulu-Natal is too deep and it started in 2016 when the ANC appointed Zandile Gumede as the mayor.
Nkosi’s comment comes after the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Bongi Sithole-Moloi, announced the intervention.
NEWS: The IFP says the section 154 intervention in the ANC-run eThekwini municipality is little too late, the city should have have been placed under total administration. The party says the administrator should have been brought in 2018 when the ANC fired former Mayor Zandile
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) May 12, 2023
The intervention will be led by the former Director-General (DG) in the Presidency, Dr Cassius Lubisi and it will help the city to get its house in order on several fronts.
The time-frame of the intervention and other details are not yet known.
However, Nkosi who is also a councillor of the IFP in the municipality and serves on its Exco (executive committee) is not impressed.
NEWS: EThekwini municipality billing crisis continues unabated. The city's housing rental department has been forced to climb down and apologize to a resident of Bonela for sending him a bill of R166 486, 80 and threatening him with immediate eviction if he doesn't pay up.
“We believe that the intervention is too mild and (a) little too late, the city should have been placed under administration long ago and there are ample reasons justifying that.
“At the present moment, the city is literally on auto-pilot, it has no political leadership and weak administration under City Manager Musa Mbhele who himself is tainted.
“This is the city that recently forfeited two grants with a combined value of R222 million because officials and politicians were squabbling over who should get tenders.
“This is the city that is yet to start fixing the damage it suffered following the April 2022 floods.
“In this case, it's not about money, but it's petty squabbles within the leadership.
“This is the city which was recently said to have low business confidence after a survey by the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
“This is the city that recently raised concerns within the corridors of the Durban Chamber of Commerce regarding the direction it is taking under Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda,” he said.
Nkosi added that the municipality has weak systems, to the extent that officials hired for top positions are not properly screened.
“This is the city with weak systems to the extent that someone with fake qualifications rose to head the human resources (HR) department – the cog of the municipality tasked with identifying talent to take the city forward.
“This is the city where a municipal manager was employed while facing serious allegations of corruption and no action was taken against him.
“All these reasons are enough for a caring government to save the city by placing it under administration.
“The collapse of the City of eThekwini under the watch of the ANC will have ripple effects in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and the SADC region.
“So, the government must act now and save it from a total collapse under the ANC misrule.
“In fact, the city should have been placed under administration in 2018 when former Mayor, Zandile Gumede and cabal were fired.
“The city has been mismanaged by ANC factions for years and things got worse in 2016 when Gumede was put in charge and started what can now be described as a looting spree which landed her in court.
“Her shenanigans while she was the mayor are now laid bare in the Durban High Court and we now know how the City was infiltrated and later collapsed,” Nkosi said in a statement on Friday.
On Wednesday, the chairperson of ActionSA in KwaZulu-Natal and councillor in the city, Zwakele Mncwango said he was cautiously optimistic about the intervention.
“There is lack of appreciation among municipal leaders for the dire state the metro is in, and while political parties such as the EFF and NFP give their unwavering support to the ANC to continue leading the municipality into the ground.
“We are cautiously optimistic that the former Director-General in the Presidency, Mr Cassius Lubisi, who is set to spearhead the intervention, will result in some positive interventions to improve the running of the municipality,” Mncwango said.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
Current Affairs