Durban - Opposition parties in eThekwini Municipality have raised concerns about the recent overseas trips of eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda and the speaker of council, Thabani Nyawose, claiming these have been disruptive to council business.
The councillors said Kaunda was in Russia, while Nyawose visited the US.
In the past few weeks the Executive Committee has not been sitting and the full council meeting that usually sits at the end of the month has also been pushed to later in the month.
Visvin Reddy, councillor for the African Democratic Change (ADeC) party, said the situation was tantamount to neglect of council duties by the leaders, adding that the meeting scheduled for tomorrow has been moved to 15th.
“This lack of presence and engagement with their responsibilities is deeply concerning. It is simply not good enough for key leaders within the City to go on overseas visits while the municipality is falling apart.
“At a time when ratepayers are up in arms threatening rate boycotts and service delivery has come to a grinding halt, the mayor and speaker must take their work commitments seriously.
“They should have deployed other councillors to attend on their behalf, but instead chose to prioritise personal trips over their responsibilities to the citizens of Durban.
“As a councillor, I demand a full report detailing the total costs of this trip, its importance and value to the city of Durban, and how it will benefit the citizens,” said Reddy.
DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa said they were not aware of the trips.
“We do not expect that this could be the reason they were not sitting, because there is a deputy mayor, Zandile Myeni, who can chair the meetings if the mayor is not available.
“The reason we were given for the meeting not to sit was that the committees have not sat, the committees only sit if there are reports that have been generated by the officials. We call on the city manager to crack the whip on the officials and ensure that they generate the required reports,” Mthethwa said.
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said he too was not aware of the trips. “This delays decision making and the implementation of these decisions, this is an indication that there are many things not going right in this municipality.”
Alan Beesley of ActionSA said: “What is extremely troubling is that the mayor chooses to travel in the midst of a rates boycott. The residents and businesses of eThekwini deserve better.”
Head of communications in the municipality Lindiwe Khuzwayo said there was no disruption to council work.
“The last council meeting was held on Thursday, July 13 and the next one is scheduled for Tuesday, August 15.
“It is true that eThekwini mayor, Kaunda was in Russia to engage with his counterparts in the city of St Petersburg with the aim of strengthening city-tocity partnership. On the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit, the mayor had meetings with various entities to promote international and inter-regional economic co-operation. In addition, the mayor visited renewable energy projects to learn best practices to help eThekwini Municipality build an energy-secured city, with strong, diverse energy sources.
“The speaker of council, Nyawose, is a KZN Municipal Pension Fund board member and travelled to the US with KZN Pension Fund executives in his capacity as a board member. This was part of the Pension Fund’s strategic investments pursuits,” Khuzwayo said.