ETHEKWINI Mayor, Zandile Gumede has described the political controversy over the city’s contribution for carpets for the maidens who attended the annual uMkhosi woMlanga (Reed Dande) at King Goodwill Zwelithini’s royal palace in KwaNongoma as unfortunate.
“We are still awaiting the report regarding the issue of carpets paid for maidens attending the Reed Dance. The unfortunate thing is that this issue has been highly politicised. I feel so bad about it, these maidens cannot be put in the middle of politics,” she said.
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Gumede was speaking at the Executive Committee meeting held this week. She said that while she was not against people who followed proper channels when raising issues of concern, she cautioned them not to allow politics to cloud the issue.
“The City has structures in place and if anyone suspects wrongdoing they can report it to the City Integrity and Investigations Unit or the City Manager’s Office,” she said.
City Manager Sipho Nzuza confirmed that he had received two letters from opposition parties raising their concerns about municipal funding of the carpets provided and that the carpets had been delivered late.
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“I have engaged with the department to look into the matter. I have since gathered that the carpets did arrive late and the total cost was R190 000. Whether it was the right carpet to be used by maidens, has to be checked by
the manager in charge so that we can learn for the future. This is an annual event so we must plan correctly and provide a decent service to the maidens,” he said.
Commenting on the cost, Mayor Gumede said she was clear when the report first came to the Executive Committee that the cost listed was not the exact pricing. “My brief as Mayor was to provide maidens comfortable carpets to sleep on and heaters, which we have done in previous years. For that service provider to bring something we did not order and to bring it late, the relevant department must deal with it. This is a supply chain management issue and is not for me as the Mayor as I do not deal with procurement. There is a department that deals with procurement,” she said.
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