eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has rejected suggestions that the ANC’s relationship with its coalition partner, the Abantu Batho Congress (ABC), is fractured.
On Monday, the ANC failed in its bid to appoint a city manager of its choice for the eThekwini municipality when ABC president and eThekwini deputy mayor Philani “PG” Mavundla joined forces with the DA, IFP and other opposition parties to vote against the appointment of Maxwell Mbili as the new city manager.
It was a shock for many as it was the ABC that joined ranks with the ANC to secure Kaunda the mayoral seat in 2021.
Political analyst Protas Madlala said this could be a defining moment in the eThekwini municipality. “The coalition is now on shaky ground given Mavundla’s move. The balance of power is against the ANC. I would not be surprised if we soon hear that the city has a DA mayor.”
During a briefing on Wednesday on the high points of his 100 days in office, Kaunda said he would neither be drawn into party politics nor the loss suffered by his party.
“I am still friends with councillor Mavundla. He is after all the deputy mayor. As mayor I run the municipality. Political parties assess and manage and evaluate relations.”
He said the implications of the council’s decision and the way forward will be discussed at the next executive committee meeting. Current acting city manager Musa Mbhele will continue in this role.
DA leader in the eThekwini Municipality is adamant that political involvement is what led to the opposition parties to vote against the ANC’s choice for city manager. “We have enough information to be reasonably suspicious that the ANC’s deployment committee chose the preferred candidate out of a list of 25. Further, why was the appointment panel not broadened to include opposition parties in council.”
She also said it was improper for the mayor to use his platform to talk about council matters.
Kaunda said he was committed to good governance. “Our focus is on addressing irregular expenditure and implementing consequence management to officials who commit fraud and corruption. We are pleased to report that since 2019 we have managed to reduce the backlog of disciplinary cases from 334 to 57.
“We pride ourselves that we remain the only metro in the country that has not been downgraded by the credit ratings agencies because of our stringent rate collection measures and ability to service our debts.
“We also pride ourselves that the city continues to obtain an unqualified audit opinion as reflected in the recently released auditor-general’s report. We have also been able to address the matters that were raised by the auditor-general from five to two.”
He said the city will invest R2.2bn to improve electricity infrastructure and approximately R1bn for water infrastructure to address ongoing water and electricity shortages.
As part of bolstering crime fighting initiatives, the municipality is currently finalising the recruitment of 200 metro police officers to increase crime prevention capacity to 2,000. The recently released crime statistics indicate that eThekwini Municipality constitutes 50% of crime in the province.
Kaunda said further crime prevention initiatives included a pilot project for body cameras to aid metro police and the installation of CCTV technology in areas beyond the central business district.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.