The Democratic Alliance (DA) in eThekwini today calls on the City Manager, Musa Mbhele, the EFF’s Human Settlements and Infrastructure Portfolio Chairperson, Themba Mvubu, and the directionless, Mayor Cyril Xaba to do the honorable thing and resign for failing to keep the city afloat.
The catastrophic state of the city’s stormwater infrastructure has once again been laid bare by the recent heavy rains that brought Durban to a standstill.
Despite repeated warnings and years of devastating floods since 2017, the ANC-IFP-EFF-led city has failed to upgrade or adequately maintain the stormwater network. As a result, blocked drains, flooded roads, and paralyzed transport routes have become the norm, putting lives, homes, and businesses at risk.
While the 2025/26 Total Capital Budget of R7.68 billion and an Operating Budget of R2.67 billion for Engineering Services, which covers roads, sidewalks, and stormwater drainage, may sound promising on paper, the lived reality on the ground tells a different story. The city’s failure to deliver on basic, preventative maintenance is an indictment of the municipality’s poor leadership and misplaced priorities.
The DA demands urgent action to:
– Clear and maintain stormwater drains across the municipality.
– Upgrade the aging and insufficient stormwater network.
– Invest in resilient infrastructure to protect the lives and property of eThekwini residents.
Further compounding the crisis is the shocking lack of emergency service visibility at flooded and dangerous locations, as noted by the DA Human Settlements, Engineering, and Transport Committee.
Given these persistent failures and the clear disregard for residents’ safety and well-being, the DA believes that we need an overhaul in leadership.
The residents of eThekwini deserve better. They deserve a government that works.