Durban - The DA in eThekwini municipality has lambasted Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda for presenting what it called a false state of the city on Wednesday at the Durban ICC.
The opposition’s caucus leader in the municipality, Thabani Mthethwa said Kaunda must stop deceiving the public and face the reality.
During his state of the city address, Kaunda boasted about several “achievements” of the city, including introducing reforms that will speed up service delivery and help the city recover from the floods and Covid-19 devastation.
NEWS: The DA in eThekwini has lambasted Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda for presenting what it called a false state of the city on Wednesday at the Durban ICC. The DA's Thabani Mthethwa said Kaunda must stop deceiving the public and face the reality. He said while Kaunda gloated pic.twitter.com/tQcjNOvUo2
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“We call upon the doomsayers who were pulling in an opposite direction when we were facing difficulties in the aftermath of the floods to join us in this journey of rebuilding our beautiful city.
“Some leaders of the opposition went as far as discouraging tourists and investors from coming to our shores, particularly during the festive season.
“Honourable Speaker, the only way we can build a united and prosperous city is when we embrace our diversity as a strength.
“Let us not allow our ideological differences to divide us. As the people of eThekwini, we have endured all these catastrophic events together and as we rise, let us hold each other’s hand.
“We must emphasise that under-expenditure, irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure are the enemy of our society and progress.
“Therefore, we will always frown upon it and apply any form consequence management to the culprits irrespective of their positions.
“Equally, any act or conduct of fraud and corruption shall be dealt with decisively without any fear, favour or prejudice because we hold the view that corruption is tantamount to stealing from the poor.
“Because this is a criminal act, we shall ensure that not only consequence management is applied, but the municipality must also recover all the proceeds of crime,” Kaunda said towards the end of his speech.
But Mthethwa is not impressed, saying that while Kaunda gloated about many achievements, including having 19 of the 23 eThekwini's beaches re-opened, this was done in spite of them having abnormal E coli levels, putting bathers at risk.
“During the Covid-19 period, the city claims to have attracted direct investment worth R4 billion.
“The reality is that investors in the city are on the brink of disinvesting. The Durban Business Confidence Index currently sits lower than 50, implying a lack of confidence in the local economy.
“Over 8 000 flood-displaced families were relocated to mass care facilities that are neither family-friendly nor safe. Inspections of several places indicate that the mayor's assertion that these facilities are habitable and dignified cannot be supported.
“The city today has 600 informal settlements that house approximately 700 000 people, accounting for around 20% of the municipality's population.
“All the while, almost R100 million in grant funding to remove informal settlements was revoked by National Treasury due to underspending.
“Nineteen of the 23 beaches in the city remain open, and while the mayor boasts about this, he fails to mention that some beaches were open over the festive season despite having abnormally high E coli levels,” Mthethwa said.
Mthethwa added that the "city is still on the verge of collapse, and the ANC is exclusively responsible for its ongoing mismanagement of funds and support of the inefficient and poor leadership of Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda."
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