The DA in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) welcomes a long-overdue interaction between the province’s Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) portfolio committee and senior eThekwini officials, scheduled to take place tomorrow.
The engagement comes after several months of requests from the DA amid growing concern around the ANC-run metro’s steady decline. It also comes after the committee called on eThekwini to appear last year, to no response.
Tomorrow’s meeting is the result of ongoing pressure from both the DA and the portfolio committee and we are ready to grill municipal officials on the ongoing crises that exist. These include:
• The metro’s ongoing sewage crisis.
• Serious financial concerns raised within the Auditor-General’s report
• Crumbling infrastructure which has led to households without water and electricity for days on end
• Thousands of municipal streetlights that are not working; and
• The erratic removal of waste.
The residents of eThekwini have a right to live in a functioning municipality that provides proper services. The people of KZN also have the right to live in a province where the only Metro is not falling further apart daily.
If eThekwini collapses, our province collapses. The DA will not stand by and watch this happen and will continue to fight on behalf of the people of eThekwini and KZN.