{"id":178433,"date":"2023-05-12T12:24:53","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T12:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/za\/2023\/05\/12\/ifp-says-ethekwini-municipality-should-have-been-placed-under-administration-instead-of-section-154-intervention\/"},"modified":"2023-05-12T12:24:53","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T12:24:53","slug":"ifp-says-ethekwini-municipality-should-have-been-placed-under-administration-instead-of-section-154-intervention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/za\/2023\/05\/12\/ifp-says-ethekwini-municipality-should-have-been-placed-under-administration-instead-of-section-154-intervention\/","title":{"rendered":"IFP says eThekwini municipality should have been placed under administration, instead of Section 154 intervention"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Durban – The IFP believes that the eThekwini Municipality should have been placed under the total control of an administrator instead of the Section 154 intervention.<\/p>\n

The party\u2019s chairperson in the district, Mdu Nkosi, believes that the rot in the only metro in KwaZulu-Natal is too deep and it started in 2016 when the ANC appointed Zandile Gumede as the mayor.<\/p>\n

Nkosi\u2019s comment comes after the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Bongi Sithole-Moloi, announced the intervention.<\/p>\n

\n

NEWS: The IFP says the section 154 intervention in the ANC-run eThekwini municipality is little too late, the city should have have been placed under total administration. The party says the administrator should have been brought in 2018 when the ANC fired former Mayor Zandile<\/p>\n

— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) May 12, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The intervention will be led by the former Director-General (DG) in the Presidency, Dr Cassius Lubisi and it will help the city to get its house in order on several fronts.<\/p>\n

The time-frame of the intervention and other details are not yet known.<\/p>\n

However, Nkosi who is also a councillor of the IFP in the municipality and serves on its Exco (executive committee) is not impressed.<\/p>\n

\n

NEWS: EThekwini municipality billing crisis continues unabated. The city's housing rental department has been forced to climb down and apologize to a resident of Bonela for sending him a bill of R166 486, 80 and threatening him with immediate eviction if he doesn't pay up.<\/p>\n

— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) May 12, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe believe that the intervention is too mild and (a) little too late, the city should have been placed under administration long ago and there are ample reasons justifying that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the present moment, the city is literally on auto-pilot, it has no political leadership and weak administration under City Manager Musa Mbhele who himself is tainted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the city that recently forfeited two grants with a combined value of R222 million because officials and politicians were squabbling over who should get tenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the city that is yet to start fixing the damage it suffered following the April 2022 floods.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case, it’s not about money, but it’s petty squabbles within the leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the city which was recently said to have low business confidence after a survey by the University of KwaZulu-Natal. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the city that recently raised concerns within the corridors of the Durban Chamber of Commerce regarding the direction it is taking under Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nkosi added that the municipality has weak systems, to the extent that officials hired for top positions are not properly screened.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the city with weak systems to the extent that someone with fake qualifications rose to head the human resources (HR) department \u2013 the cog of the municipality tasked with identifying talent to take the city forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the city where a municipal manager was employed while facing serious allegations of corruption and no action was taken against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these reasons are enough for a caring government to save the city by placing it under administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe collapse of the City of eThekwini under the watch of the ANC will have ripple effects in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and the SADC region.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, the government must act now and save it from a total collapse under the ANC misrule.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, the city should have been placed under administration in 2018 when former Mayor, Zandile Gumede and cabal were fired.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city has been mismanaged by ANC factions for years and things got worse in 2016 when Gumede was put in charge and started what can now be described as a looting spree which landed her in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer shenanigans while she was the mayor are now laid bare in the Durban High Court and we now know how the City was infiltrated and later collapsed,\u201d Nkosi said in a statement on Friday.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the chairperson of ActionSA in KwaZulu-Natal and councillor in the city, Zwakele Mncwango said he was cautiously optimistic about the intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is lack of appreciation among municipal leaders for the dire state the metro is in, and while political parties such as the EFF and NFP give their unwavering support to the ANC to continue leading the municipality into the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are cautiously optimistic that the former Director-General in the Presidency, Mr Cassius Lubisi, who is set to spearhead the intervention, will result in some positive interventions to improve the running of the municipality,\u201d Mncwango said.<\/p>\n

sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za<\/p>\n

Current Affairs<\/strong><\/p>\n