One year on, and Durban is in a worse mess because of the ANC
23 August 2017
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Members of the Press
I would like to welcome you and thank you for joining us today, as we reflect on the 365 days since the ANC's Zandile Gumede took office as the City’s mayor.
Blessed with a port and major tourist attractions, Durban has the potential to be a major economic hub in South Africa. One would hope that job creation, particularly for the youth, is a core concern for those who govern.
Unfortunately, what eThekwini has is a government that prioritises lavish spending on self-serving social functions while youths struggle to find jobs and watch their future being wasted away.
Exodus of officials
The sad truth is that Durban stands on the brink of collapse. Few, except insiders, would know the real horror of the perpetual tension and uncertainty that now pervades the corridors of each council building in eThekwini. It’s no coincidence or surprise that the once stable administrative arm has been depleted by a mass exodus of staff. Whereas Gumede has been at pains to dismiss these as the normal run of the mill occurrences, corridor talk indicates that there is more to the unfolding governance crisis.
Interestingly, the ANC Youth League in eThekwini has recently also issued statements raising the same issues around the exodus of officials.
Why is it that respected Deputy City Manager, Dr Musa Gumede, has resigned a year after the mayor came into the office? Similarly, the former Head of Legal, Nokhana Moerane.
Of course, the purging of staff started way before this. Last year, the Mayor lied to the residents of eThekwini claiming that the then City Manager, Sibusiso Sithole, willingly agreed to terminate his contract which was later disputed by Sithole himself, revealing that in fact he was ‘pushed’ to leave his position.
Then came the issue of Musa Mbhele, the then Deputy City Manager, who was shifted into another position to pave way for the Mayor’s favourite Phillip Sithole. We know that Mbhele was shifted because he refused to sign off on the Essence Festival.
The answer lies in the ongoing and constant meddling of the Mayor, who seems intent on micro managing the entire administration and has an obsession for control.
Whereas control is certainly a fundamental attribute for a Mayor, it becomes extremely problematic when boundaries and even laws are broken with impunity. And if court affidavits are anything to go by, then both the ANC and Mayor Gumede have made themselves guilty of flouting the law.
Tabled at the recent Labour Court battle, an affidavit put up by suspended Head of Parks, Recreation and Cemeteries, Thembinkosi Ngcobo, alleges the Mayor and ANC regional office instructed the City Manager to cancel the 2017 Social Cohesion Conference. No sooner had Ngcobo done so, and he was summarily suspended for misconduct.
After this legal battle, the City has withdrawn all charges against Ngcobo and his unlawful suspension was withdrawn. The big question now is: Should ratepayers be liable for money wasted on the social cohesion conference cancellation and legal costs arising from the case?
Politics aside, the law is fundamental in how Councillors should and should not conduct themselves. Underpinning our democracy is a separation of powers. A mayor cannot and should not instruct officials.
The unfortunate reality is that this is not where the rot has stopped – with the Mayor instead lashing out at opposition when confronted with the truth. So what is the truth?
From an administrative perspective Durban has seen its heads of Parks and Health suspended, and the Electricity Head given the boot. Head of Legal has resigned, and a string of senior managers have also resigned. The City still sits without a Deputy City Manager for the vitally important Human Settlements cluster, almost five years after the last one left office.
Investment and Jobs
Since taking office, the ANC has consistently exposed its inability to effectively lead Durban and grow the metro’s economy.
Durban is saddled with a government that has been rendered ineffective due to corruption. It perhaps partly explains why Mayor Gumede has failed to table an internal audit report about financial mismanagement in the 2016 instalment of the Essence Festival. Leaked to the media mid-August, the report details how “irregularities and collusive procurement practices” and lavish spending on VIP functions led to a total bill of about R95 million. Dodgy tenders to companies for ad hoc security, refreshments at beachfront restaurants, R18 million in licensing fees and a hefty R30 million for artists are some of the glaring irregularities uncovered by the investigators.
The R95 million lost preparing and hosting the festival could have gone a long way in alleviating some of the most pressing service delivery challenges in the metro. To put this figure into perspective, the lost money could have been used to:
- Install 9500 solar water geysers or
- Hire 350 community care givers to look after the vulnerable and sick or
- Build more than 860 low-cost houses or
- Train hundreds of new plumbers.
Questions have been asked, and rightly so, about the long-term economic or social benefit of the Essence festivals. The festivals have become an expensive albatross for the City and should be discontinued with immediate effect. An average man on the street wants a job and better service delivery - not self-serving social events.
Recently the R6.1 billion upmarket development planned for Virginia Airport was shelved by the current ANC administration. This development which was going to create hundreds of jobs for eThekwini residents was an initiative by the previous administration and was now kicked out by this current ANC administration.
The Durban 88 Iconic Tower building project, which was a R7.3 billion project, also fell through under the current ANC administration.
These and other many examples clearly show a City that is moving backwards on investment and creating job opportunities for its citizens.
The constant unlawful and irrational decision by the current ANC Mayor is the reason why many investors are taking their business away from the city.
Harsh criticism? Yes, perhaps. But who then should we blame for the various failures of Durban in the past year? It is a no-brainer that the proverbial buck stops with the ANC, in particular, Mayor Gumede. Surely a Councillor who has consistently served on the Executive Committee for more than 10 years would have a firmer understanding of what needs to be done to improve service delivery.
Determined to engage with those who live in hostels, Gumede and her ANC EXCO members thought it prudent to schedule a Monday morning interaction at the cost of R3 million. The fact that hostel residents work on a Monday, or that door to door engagements are free seemed to elude the mayor.
The Mayor again pushed through a R3 million Maidens Conference. Outrageous spending was the order of the day, with several heads of cattle being purchased at an inflated cost of R31 250 per cow. VIP catering, not for the Maidens, but for functionaries and politicians again came in at several hundred thousand rands.
Similarly, the citizens never really got the full truth on why R4 million was spent on vehicle hire during the election period, or why the Mayor never put a stop to the R60 millions of irregular expenditure in the past financial year.
Then there was the police dogs and Caspir saga. The Mayor, who incidentally served as chairperson of the Safety and Security Cluster for more than a decade, was seemingly oblivious to the fact that her administration had paid just shy of R20 million for these armoured vehicles for Metro Police. The whole debacle drips of irony, as these are the same vehicles the apartheid government used to shoot ANC members in the violent years leading to democratic elections. Why a metropolitan police force would need its own armoured brigade, except to subdue crowds unhappy with service delivery, also seemed to have flown over the heads of the ANC. The official report on these vehicles also remains outstanding.
No sooner had Gumede sidestepped the Caspir scandal, and she was again at pains to explain how R1.2 million was spent on procuring 20 partially trained police dogs. If the information received is correct, an additional R3 million will be forked out on training the handlers and dogs.
Some financial decisions pushed through have had a truly sad outcome, particularly with the lowering of the pensioner rebate threshold. The financial difficulties this ANC-led decision has inflicted is enormous, with pensioners of all walks of life being forced to now sell up as their rates skyrocket by up to 30%, with no rebate to assist.
The apogee to what can only be described as a catalogue of disasters has emerged as the deliberate withholding of crucial reports at an executive level. Despite repeated formal requests, investigative reports detailing the rampant and sustained looting of city coffers during events, in particular, have never been tabled.
There certainly are many whom would describe the list of failures as political rhetoric. But one only has to drive through the city to see the decay. How people in informal settlements wait in vain for formal electricity and homes, to the uncut verges, broken infrastructure and lack of employment opportunities.
We need a fresh start – a fundamental change – because millions of our people are suffering, and life isn’t getting any easier for them.
These are a symptom of the failures of an administration and political hierarchy. A knock on effect of political squabbling and a Mayor who simply has no handle on this city. Ultimately, only the voters can save the city – for themselves.
Millions of South Africans wake up every day to a life under a DA-run government in this country, and they realise there is the chance of a bright future beyond the ANC. It is possible too in eThekwini, clean governance can be possible too in eThekwini.
I thank you.
Issued by Zwakele Mncwango, DA KZN Leader, 23 August 2017
