Des Erasmus
eThekwini mayor Cyril Xaba on Sunday said that the controversial giant bronze statues of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo, costing R11 million each, which were commissioned by the city and will be unveiled in March, will be tourism drawcards.
He also brushed aside reports that the city only had 17 days’ cash on hand as a “snapshot” in time.
“Even before their official unveiling, the statues…are already generating excitement among local and international visitors alike,” Xaba said at a media briefing.
“I can assure you that, going forward, no visitor will leave Durban without experiencing this impressive artistic tribute.”
The nine-metre-long statues will be unveiled on 6 March by President Cyril Ramaphosa, Xaba said.
They are part of a strategy to “strengthen heritage tourism” and to get visitors to “stay longer and contribute even more to our local economy,” he said.
The Democratic Alliance in eThekwini has been particularly scathing of the cost of the statues, calling it a “vanity project”. Its mayoral candidate, Haniff Hoosen, said last year that the expense was “typical wasteful expenditure under this municipality’s administration”.
“What is even more concerning is that the eThekwini Municipality redirected funds from purchasing fire engines and repairing the water infrastructure towards the building of this statue. The city council is also refusing to divulge the details of the artist and hiding behind a confidentiality clause in the tender,” Hoosen said at the time, adding that the DA would refer the matter to the Public Protector.
At the media briefing on Sunday, Xaba said: “We wish to clarify that no financial resources were diverted from service delivery projects to fund the statues of our iconic leaders.”
He said the statues were “financed through allocations made in previous years’ budgets,” and “therefore did not impact current or ongoing service delivery commitments”.
Xaba also said there was no need for “hysteria” when it came to the city’s liquidity, after reports that it had only 17 days’ cash on hand.
“The reported 17 days’ cash on hand must be understood in proper context,” Xaba said.
It was a point-in-time snapshot rather than the city’s full liquidity position, he said, which was “projected to improve to over 30 days by the end of June”.
Xaba said cash flow was being squeezed by unpaid accounts from government institutions and consumers.
He said residents should pay or enter payment arrangements. If they did not, the city would enforce its credit control policy and “intensify disconnections where required”.
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