DA swiftly moves to dissolve eThekwini council

28 November 2023

Following extensive consultation with the DA provincial leadership the DA eThekwini caucus has reached a bold, but needed decision to call for the dissolution of the city’s 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.

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.

The DA has done everything in its power to constructively engage the Mayor, Municipal Manager and senior officials to ensure that that eThekwini is salvaged further collapse. Instead our relentless efforts have only been met with constant excuses of infrastructure collapse and sabotage.

We, along with the many frustrated and infuriated rate-paying residents of the city, see right through the smoke and mirrors that this is the doing of the ANC-EFF.

In the past, the DA explored every possible avenue to have eThekwini placed under administration in line with Section 139 of our constitution but this effort failed due to the ANC-led government’s, somewhat convenient, refusal to intervene in their ANC-led majority council. By doing so they ensured their fellow comrades are protected and further allowed the failing of this once beautiful city.

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. 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.

Once the dissolution is achieved residents of eThekwini can return to the polls and elect an effective council, with new executive leadership to take over the reins, bringing about stability and marking the start of the arduous journey of rebuilding a capable and ethical state in the city.

The DA calls on every opposition party in the city to join us, join our residents in the city who have been abandoned and totally neglected by the ANC. We owe it to our residents.

Issued by Francois Rodgers, DA Provincial Leader, 28 November 2023