Note to Editors: Attached please find sound bites in English and isiZulu by Mbali Ntuli, DA KZN CoGTA Spokesperson.
The Democratic Alliance expects KwaZulu-Natal’s ANC-led leadership to follow through from this weeks’ intervention against senior political leaders in the province by placing both the embattled Ugu and Newcastle municipalities under provincial administration.
The ANC should not assume that its job is done after this week’s clean-up in eThekwini and Msunduzi.
During the recent KZN CoGTA Budget Debate, MEC Hlomuka revealed that there are as many as 31 KZN municipalities in dire straits, mostly as a result of there being no political leadership in place.
These include the troubled Newcastle and Ugu municipalities which are collapsing more with each day that passes.
In Newcastle, the Mayor is on leave while facing criminal charges. As if this were not bad enough, allegations of fraud and corruption were also reported to KZN’s CoGTA Department regarding the recruitment of a number of traffic officers and alleged interference by the former Mayor in respect of this process.
The municipality also has no Deputy Mayor or Speaker, a situation which has existed since the May general election, while the Municipal Manager was also suspended last year.
This is having a direct and negative impact on the functionality of ExCo and on governance with these meetings currently being chaired by the Acting Municipal Manager. This is against the law.
To add insult to injury, the municipality has also conducted seven forensic investigations over several years with no consequence management, allegedly as a result of staff being politically connected.
The DA regards the situation in Newcastle as unacceptable. Not only must this community suffer a complete lack of leadership, they must also put up with political instability while so-called political leaders busy themselves with legal battles and while the province’s ANC executive drags its heels in replacing others.
The situation in Ugu is equally alarming. Despite the DA’s numerous appeals for this municipality to be placed under administration and declared a disaster area – as a result of the long-term effects of an ongoing and unresolved water crisis – nothing has happened.
This debacle has led to this once thriving tourism and agriculture hub being brought to its knees while the effect of the related job losses has been nothing short of catastrophic.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ugu currently has no Mayor after the former Mayor was deployed to the provincial legislature in May. The municipality has also been described as ‘cash-strapped’ with even municipal workers calling for it to be placed under administration over fears that they may not be paid their salaries.
Then there are the calls by the Workers’ Union for the Municipal Manager to go, allegedly based on corruption. Add to this the media reports which point to the abuse of Section 36 of the MFMA regarding tenders, along with steep rates hikes and it is increasingly clear that Ugu is on a one way track to nowhere.
While the reality is that the vast majority of our province’s municipalities need a wholesale clean-up, it is clear that both Newcastle and Ugu must be prioritized and receive urgent intervention in the form of administration.
The time has come for the ANC to put aside its own internal battles and prove, on an ongoing basis, whether it is truly committed to standing up for the people by ensuring competent political leadership and rooting out corruption and criminality.