The DA in uMzinyathi District has written to the Acting Municipal Manager, Ntombenhle Mkhwanazi, to seek answers on why the district’s strategic meeting was held in uMhlanga, Durban, costing ratepayers over R500 000.
It is concerning to note that 71 of the 100 participating delegates were not councillors.
The accommodation and venue of the strategic meeting for councillors and municipal officials that took place between 26 February – 01 March 2023 was never discussed in council. Instead, councillors were informed at the last minute that it would be held in Durban, and when we objected, we were told it was too late to cancel the booking.
More than R500 000 was spent. This is the same municipality that is financially unstable and has been under administration for many years.
This is the same municipality beleaguered by service delivery protests. They can barely afford to provide hospitals and clinics with water. Some businesses have closed down due to the municipality’s failure to provide water and thousands have lost their jobs.
Children at schools are experiencing immense difficulties as they are not getting water during their classes and communities are forced to share unsafe water with animals in rivers.
The municipality has also been receiving adverse audit reports for years now.
More concerning, is that all this happened under the watch of an administrator.
We have therefore written to the Acting Municipal Manager, we want to know the requesting details on the contributions of these delegates and the reason for choosing this expensive venue while we have venues that we could have used in uMzinyathi.
We cannot accept this kind of misuse of ratepayers’ money while they can barely be afforded the most basic of services.