Durban — Opposition parties in Uthukela District Municipality are putting pressure on mayor Inkosi Ntandoyenkosi Shabalala to explain why the municipality held a councillors’ workshop in Durban, leaving residents with no water back home.
According to opposition parties, all 33 councillors attended the workshop in Durban from Monday to Wednesday, which parties say should have been held either in the municipality’s boardroom or at any lodge within the municipality boundaries to save costs.
In a two-minute, 50-second video clip posted by National People’s Assembly councillor Nkosinathi Mthethwa, the councillor accused the mayor of misleading the public about the real state of the water crisis and the number of water tankers that needed to be repaired.
In the video Mthethwa claims to have recorded at a repair workshop which services the municipality fleet, he is seen showing tankers parked there, with his voice in the background claiming the mayor had said only two tankers needed repairs but he found “more than two”.
He then calls on the mayor to step down because he has “lied to the public”.
The municipality has been plagued by a water crisis.
“This is the same mayor who has denied that his children and relatives have been hired in the municipality,” said Mthethwa in the clip.
Mthethwa told the Daily News on Thursday that he decided to go to the place that services the municipality fleet to get first-hand information about the state of tankers, and was shocked to find seven parked there, while the mayor had spoken on the local radio station, telling the public that only two water tankers had gone for repairs.
On the cost of the councillors’ workshop, Mthethwa said after questioning the mayor about why the workshop was held in Durban with high travelling and accommodation costs, the mayor said the event was paid for by a private donor.
ANC regional spokesperson Bheki Khanyile also slammed the mayor, saying that even if the workshop was paid for by a donor they wanted the mayor to reveal who the donor was and on what basis a private company would fund a government event.
Mayor Shabalala confirmed that the workshop was funded by the donor, saying those parties complaining must question their councillors because they were part of the event and were happy. He also confirmed that there was no money at the municipality because all the money in this year’s budget had to be used to pay debts inherited from the previous administration.
“We did not take any money from the municipality for this workshop and we are transparent about the donor and councillors know everything,” the mayor said.
Daily News