Political parties and governance experts have supported comments by Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Palesa Phili that the lack of visible change in eThekwini Municipality is because officials are failing to perform their duties.
Phili warned that despite interventions, eThekwini was still struggling to overcome its challenges.
Speaking to a weekend newspaper, Phili said the City was still facing challenges of water shortages, electricity, not enough tourism and a lack of investment opportunities.
She said she believed that officials were not performing their jobs properly and this was preventing the City from being turned around.
So immense are the challenges faced by eThekwini that President Cyril Ramaphosa established the Presidential eThekwini Working Group (PWG) so the government and business could offer solutions to the challenges. The City was placed under section 154 intervention.
Phili said despite a presidential commitment to work with the private sector, nothing has changed and officials are not doing enough to turn the City around.
She said the officials needed to be held accountable to do their jobs and because of the lack of service delivery and collapsing infrastructure the business sector had met with Ramaphosa, who approved a working group specifically focused on eThekwini.
The Chamber CEO said the key areas of concern were water, sanitation, distribution of electricity and infrastructure and tourism.
She said the private sector was willing to work with the government to address service delivery challenges, but when officials fail to do their jobs, no one holds them accountable and consequence management was needed.
Phili said if officials do not want to adapt and make sure that there is progress in the City, they must get sacked.
eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said the City would not comment on the matter through the media.
Professor Zwelinzima Ndevu, director of the School of Public Leadership at Stellenbosch University, said it was crucial to have a city that was functional to develop, sustain and attract investors and businesses.
“The City has, unfortunately, been declining for some time now, with clear talk of a poorly maintained infrastructure, poor monitoring and service delivery.
Someone needed to talk truth to power without any fear of being victimised by the influential politicians.”
Zakhele Ndlovu, a political science lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said there was a sense that elected officials were sleeping on the job.
“The City is collapsing. We have hijacked buildings, there is crime, tourism is not growing and you cannot attract investors if it continues. We have interventions in place and they are trying but it has not made a difference. We need more people to speak up so that the municipality can make changes.”
KwaZulu-Natal ANC spokesperson Mafika Mndebele said there were plans to address changes in the City.
“There have been major interventions put in place, such as section 154 and the PWG, which shows that the provincial and national governments are working together to restore eThekwini.
“The City is working to restore water to affected areas, there is a concerted effort to address problem buildings and infrastructure challenges, and the City is making progress with the Dube Tradeport to create employment. We admit there are challenges but all hands are on deck to turn the city around.”
DA eThekwini caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa said the collapse of the municipality was the result of a lack of consequence management.
“Some officials sleep on the job and are not held accountable. The DA wants to see the city manager taking action against those underperforming officials.”
ActionSA provincial leader and eThekwini councillor Zwakele Mncwango said the political leadership must also account.
“We can’t only blame officials if we don’t have the right leadership in place to turn the City around. The City is in a bad state, you just have to look at the Durban North areas and the amount of challenges they are experiencing with water.”
IFP leader in eThekwini Municipality Mdu Nkosi said that everyone needs to work together towards changing the City.
“It needs to go back to how it was before. The line departments need to do their work so that businesses and investors will still come to the City. We also want our ratepayers to be happy with the service delivery and the only way this can happen is if every employee is doing their best at their jobs.”
The Mercury