New eThekwini mayor pledges change

James Nxumalo was announed mayor of eThekwini municipality yesterday. It will not be business as usual in the eThekwini municipality and the days of councillors flouting the law by doing business with the very council they have been elected to serve are over. This was the promise from James Nxumalo, who was named the new eThekwini mayor at a press briefing at the ANC’s provincial offices in Durban on Sunday.

The ANC also announced the first citizens of 10 other KwaZulu-Natal municipalities. However, the names of other political office-bearers who will take up prominent positions, such as the deputy mayors and speakers, at ANC-controlled municipalities in KZN were not revealed. Outgoing mayor Obed Mlaba, who has been at the helm of eThekwini for 15 years, will officially hand over the R2.3 million mayoral chain to Nxumalo next week. He will take the reins as mayor just two months after Co-operative Governance MEC Nomusa Dube announced an unprecedented forensic investigation into the city’s financial affairs. Dube said she would receive preliminary feedback from the forensic audit firm Manase and Associates, which was tasked with investigating allegations of fraud, maladministration and corruption in the city. “I’m not expecting a final report anytime this month, but it will just be to look at the progress and to see whether there are any other issues that may have arisen from the investigation,” she said.

Nxumalo said it would be premature for him to make statements regarding the investigation, as processes were under way. “But I must say that we are going to be very strict this time. It cannot be business as usual, and we will make sure that we implement the code of conduct governing councillors, because councillors are not allowed to do business with the municipalities. We will be very strict in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act,” he said. Nxumalo said councillors would be trained to understand that the law did not allow them to do business with the council. He said those who owned companies should resign from those companies “as a matter of urgency and declare their business interests”.

The ANC on Sunday announced that it was still engaged in talks with the NFP, aimed at forging a coalition, after both failed to secure governing majorities in 19 councils in the province. The ANC on Sunday announced Ester Qwabe as its Zululand mayoral candidate, but the party said this could change depending on the outcome of talks with the NFP.

ANC provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala said the outcome of talks with the NFP would determine the candidates for other key positions at eThekwini and other municipalities. “We have taken an approach that we will announce other positions after that engagement. That also goes for Zululand. We have announced our mayoral candidate in Zululand, but if talks and negotiations compel us to take a deputy mayoral position, we will determine that when we discuss with the NFP,” he said. Zikalala said the ANC would announce the progress of the talks today.

NFP leader Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi laughed off suggestions that she or any other member of her party would be appointed mayor of Msunduzi municipality, but said her party was open to talks with both the ANC and IFP. Makhosi Khoza, a front-runner for the eThekwini mayoral post, said on Sunday she would remain the party’s spokeswoman and MPL. – The Mercury