‘We owe it to our residents’ − DA calls for dissolution of eThekwini council

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal is calling for the dissolution of the eThekwini council under the Municipal Structures Act.

“This follows the historical, unabated collapse of service delivery under the watch of the ANC-EFF coalition. Water, electricity and sanitation services, to name a few have all suffered a similar fate of dysfunctionality,” said the party on Wednesday.

eThekwini challenges

“The supply of water and electricity, which should be the norm, have now become the exception with more than a million residents suffering consistent outages, which in some cases last for weeks on end.”

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The eThekwini municipality has listed infrastructure collapse and sabotage as some of its challenges.

The DA says the explanation is not enough.

“What the ANC forgets is that we, however, will never give up fighting for the people of eThekwini and to this end the DA is now seeking to invoke Section 34 of the Municipal Structures Act.”

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Among other things the Act allows for municipal council to dissolve itself at a meeting called for this purpose and by adopting a resolution to dissolve council as backed by two-thirds of the council vote.

The DA called on opposition parties in the municipality to support its call as it does not have the numbers by itself.

No-confidence motion

Meanwhile, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) eThekwini caucus earlier this month filed a motion of no confidence against mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.

“EThekwini has collapsed, going from bad to the worst under the failed leadership of the ANC. It’s time for change! The people of eThekwini deserve better,” said the IFP.

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It slammed Kaunda for the R1.9 billion that was apparently returned to National Treasury as a result of unspent grants designated to repair critical infrastructure damaged during the floods.

However, Kaunda explained that the R1.9 billion grant funding was not forfeited to National Treasury and that the city had been granted approval to roll over R1.6 billion in grant funding, reported The Witness.

He said the opposition parties’ concerns were “premature”, further explaining that the funds were only received three months before the end of the financial year.

Kaunda said National Treasury approved its request to roll over the grant with some conditions.