“KDM is the best”- NCOP
KwaDukuza rated as the best municipality in the Ilembe district.
The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) rated KwaDukuza as the best performing municipality in the Ilembe district judging by its governance and financial management.
NCOP provincial whip Lewis Nzimande said the reasons why KDM is the best in the region is because there are no political fights between the ruling and opposition parties in the council and the municipality is doing well in terms of handling finances.
“For the past eight years KDM received unqualified audits which proves that their financial management is on the right track and we have not heard of any disturbance at the council meetings,” said Nzimande.
Speaker of KwaDukuza council, Thulani Khuluse, said that while they are happy to be ranked as the best performing municipality, they have not reached their target in terms of service.
“I know some communities will be surprised to hear this,but it shows that we are trying our best to deliver services to the people,” said Khuluse.
Democratic Alliance councillors Malcolm Hubner and Colin Marsh said the relationship among councillors in the council is good.
They praised leadership of the municipality saying that its does not take decisions politically, they know the difference between politics and serving people and what is best for the community of KwaDukuza.
“People should understand that we are there to ensure that things are done correctly and we are not there to fight with the ruling party. When we make a query, the issue will be discussed and when there is a need for investigation it will happen, even if it takes long but it does happen,” said Marsh.
On the other hand, Minority Front councillor Bikrum Sing said there is a political conflict and the municipality is heading to bankruptcy.
“KDM meets the audit requirements and that is why they say financial management is on track, if that is the case, then why do we depend on loans? ” asked Sing.
Responding to a post on the Courier Facebook page, community members were sceptical about this rating, but said it came as no surprise compared to Ndwedwe, Mandeni and Maphumulo municipalities.
