Opposition parties in the eThekwini Municipality council have expressed concerns that the three big parties in the municipality working together as partners under the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU), could undermine transparency.
The ANC, DA, IFP, NFP and the EFF occupy the seats in the executive committee of the municipality. With the exception of the EFF, the other four parties are members of the GPU that currently governs KwaZulu-Natal. While the GPU arrangement exists at national and provincial level, it has cascaded down to municipalities.
Opposition parties have claimed that there is a lack of transparency at council after a recent meeting by the City’s audit committee to discuss an audit report was classified as confidential and was discussed in private.
This type of document is usually a public document.
ActionSA has publicly raised concerns about this political arrangement, saying it would undermine transparency and accountability.
The party’s councillor, Zwakele Mncwango, said he was informed that there were extenuating circumstances that demanded the document be discussed behind closed doors.
Speaking to “The Mercury” at the weekend, Mncwango said he feared that this could be a sign of things to come.
“The document on the audit committee is generally not a confidential document and yet it was declared as such in this case.
“We still do not have a clear idea on why it was declared as such, there was some flimsy information that the document had personal information.
“What happened is part of the reason we have expressed fears about the GPU. Normally the DA and the IFP would hold the ANC to account, but with them being part of the GNU we fear that transparency is going to be undermined,” he said.
Democratic Liberal Congress (DLC) leader Patrick Pillay said the DLC is a proactive party and will not allow anyone to pull the wool over its eyes.
“All participants in a GPU must be transparent in all its programmes of action and service delivery.
“The council has many processes in place to access any information of concern. Councillors are within their positions to exercise these rights.
“The DLC would also like to see service delivery being at the centre of any working relationships and not positions. The DLC will be holding these individuals accountable every step of the way,” he said.
DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa said the opposite would be true. “The results of the elections dictate that all the parties should work together, while the agreement of working together is still at the provincial and national level, we believe it will cascade down to municipalities.
“We believe that having this partnership is going to be positive for transparency and for service delivery, it means no single party can take a decision on its own, every decision will be discussed and that will also be good for service delivery.”
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi also said the suggestion was not true. “If something is not going right, nothing will stop us as the IFP to raise our concerns. I see more opportunities (as part of the GPU) to see things that we (previously) did not see,” he said.
EFF councillor Themba Mvubu said they will play their role as the opposition party. “As the only official opposition party, we can guarantee that we will not shelve any rot, be it done by the officials or politicians.
“We will play our role like we did when we had an arrangement of working with the ANC.”
The Mercury