Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Affairs (Cogta) Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has roasted councillors at the eThekwini Municipality, saying more could be done to improve service delivery.
Addressing a full council meeting Dlamini-Zuma at City Hall, she also blasted councillors for their tardiness. “I was informed that the council will start at 9am but I had to sit upstairs waiting, having boarded a 6am flight to be here on time. When you set time then you must keep it,” she said.
Dlamini-Zuma says eThekwini has been in the media for all the wrong reasons, and the City needs to do better. “You must make sure their rubbish is picked up'” she added.
Dlamini-Zuma was speaking in eThekwini ahead of the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) planned motion of no confidence against Mayor Zandile Gumede.
Opposition parties in the ANC-run municipality are calling for it to be placed under administration, citing Gumede’s open-ended leave of absence; the arrests of senior officials on corruption charges; and violent protests that were directly linked to the office of the mayor.
The political tensions in the eThekwini council has led to an oversight visit by Dlamini-Zuma.
The minister said 40 municipalities in the country were already under administration, and those that were not, should be supported so they did not collapse.
But Dlamini-Zuma said the government would not rush to implement Section 139, the legal framework under which the municipality can be placed under administration.
“We want to decrease the need for Section 139 by coming in early, supporting, and strengthening the municipalities,” she said.
