Ekurhuleni Mayor removes MMC for Finance

In a surprising turn of events, Executive Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza has removed the MMC for Finance, Nkululeko Dunga from his position.

The announcement was made two days before he was to deliver his budget speech at the extraordinary council meeting which was held on June 14 at in Alberton Civic Center.

This decision followed the city’s inability to agree on the contents and to pass the budget.

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Xhakaza said the development will allow for the metro to fast-track the completion and approval of its annual budget.

The mayor’s decision was not welcomed by EFF commander-in-chief Julius Malema.

The City of Ekurhuleni has failed to pass a budget twice under Dunga’s stewardship.

ActionSA welcomed the mayor’s decision to oust Dunga and said from the start they were against Dunga coming back as MMC of Finance.

“We maintained from the start that the inclusion of the EFF into the mayoral committee had hampered service delivery, delivered our first negative audit outcome in years, and slowed down progress towards insourcing,” said Siyanda Makhubo.

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He further said they support the mayor and encourage him to get the budget approved on Friday and take heed of their recommendations.

Ekurhuleni Regional task team also welcomed the mayor’s decision.

“We welcome the justifiable decision by the mayor to remove the former MMC of Finance Dunga.

“This decision was accordingly endorsed following the governance update report which pointed to fundamental weaknesses on how the budget process has been handled as well as the seriously regressing financial position of the city,” said Ekurhuleni ANC RTT coordinator Jongizizwe Dlabathi.

He said they firmly believe that every Member of the Mayoral Committee must be committed to a coordinated way of governance, under the guidance of the executive mayor, including accountability, which was not the case.