MXOLISI KAUNDA
The post of eThekwini City Manager became vacant in June last year. Since the term of the previous council was about to come to an end in four months, we saw it prudent to start the recruitment process when the new council was in place.
Subsequently, in May this year the council resolved to commence with the recruitment process, and the selection panel comprising the deputy mayor, who was delegated by the mayor, three Exco members and one independent expert was appointed. We want to commend the panel for working diligently to finalise this process.
We are pleased to report that in line with the local government regulations governing the recruitment and selection process, all the required steps have been concluded. The post was advertised in July. Out of a total of 158 applicants, 17 candidates were shortlisted and screened by the end of July.
The screening process included reference and misconduct checks as well as qualification verification. This paved a way for interviews to commence in the first week of August. The five recommended candidates were taken through a competency assessment for two days and the outcome of the assessment was communicated to the municipality last week.
We would like to thank all the applicants who showed interest in this strategic position. Most importantly, we want to convey our profound gratitude to the recommended candidates who displayed a high level of professionalism during this gruelling process. All the candidates have impeccable work experience and academic backgrounds.
During the selection process, the panel considered candidates who ranked top five in the recruitment process with a percentage score of 70%.
We congratulate the recommended candidate number 1 in the form of Thompson Musa Mbhele with a final assessment score of 92%. According to the panel, Mr Mbhele demonstrated a high level of experience and knowledge of strategic leadership in the municipal environment.
He holds a Social Science degree, Master’s degree in Town and Regional Planning, Project Management diploma and BTech degree in Business Management. He has vast experience in local government and has been the municipal manager at uMzumbe Municipality. Before his appointment, he was our chief operating officer and acting city manager for eThekwini Municipality since July last year.
The fact that he has been with the municipality for some time augurs well for us because he comprehends our challenges, and he is going to hit the ground running.
We have no doubt that this appointment will stabilise the administration of the city and bring confidence to all our stakeholders.
The new city manager takes the helm of the only metro in the province at a time when the municipality is working hard to accelerate the rebuilding and restoration process following the July civil unrest and the devastating April floods.
Furthermore, I would like to take this opportunity to update the public on the interventions the city is making to address the challenges of our wastewater infrastructure.
Work is already under way to fix pumps at our sewerage pump stations that are malfunctioning resulting in raw sewerage ending in our rivers and then the beaches.
Cable theft and vandalism are compounding our woes. We are urging the public to partner with us in rooting out this illicit behaviour that is threatening our economy. We are appealing to owners of scrap metal establishments around the city not to buy property stolen from the government.
Central beaches have been affected largely by the Johanna Road Sewer Pump station which is constantly vandalised by criminals. The Northern Treatment Works was flooded and as a result, it malfunctioned. We are happy that contractors are on site, and we are confident that before the end of this week, it will be commissioned.
Other beaches have been affected by blocked manholes because of alien objects constantly entering our system as a result of human behaviour. Some of you might have seen our teams hard at work unblocking these manholes.
We appeal to all our residents to refrain from disposing of foreign objects in our system.
Some of our street lights are also not working because of this unrelenting vandalism of state infrastructure. We have lost count of how many times our teams repair these them. Immediately when they turn their back, these are vandalised again. Some thieves are so brazen that they go as far as literally cutting high mast poles. As a result, every year, we spend millions on these repairs, an amount of money that would have been used for other service delivery initiatives.
We would like to assure members of the public that our water is safe to drink. We have tested our water several times in Birchwood and the results indicate that water quality has significantly improved. However, we are still imploring the public to continue to boil it.
The root cause of the contamination has been isolated and dealt with. We are appealing to members of the public to refrain from spreading fake news with an intention of causing unnecessary panic. We therefore apologise profusely to our residents in this area for the inconvenience caused.
Following a violent public protest in oThongathi, as the leadership of the city, accompanied by the MEC for Cogta, Sihle Zikalala, we visited the area to listen to the community. We understand the frustration of oThongathi residents since some areas have not been able to have full access to water.
In the meantime, we will continue to deliver water by water tankers. We are increasing water tankers to ease community frustration while we finalise repairs of the oThongathi Water Treatment Plant.
We are happy with the progress being made by the contractor working at the treatment works. We are hopeful that we will have this job completed by the end of October.
We are happy to announce that the electricity challenge that gave rise to protests in Springfield last Wednesday has been resolved. The mini substation that was damaged has been fixed and power has been restored in that area.
However, we continue to appeal to all our communities to refrain from staging violent service delivery protests and damaging infrastructure. In the event of any shortcomings in service delivery, our doors are always open for engagement.
We hereby confirm that our offices at eThekwini Electricity were visited by the Sheriff of the Court last Thursday and some city assets were attached.
We have instructed our legal team to pursue this matter further in the Supreme Court of Appeal as we are convinced that a different court will reach a different decision in this matter. Since we have taken a decision to challenge this action, we will not be able to get into the merits of the case.
We are appealing to all our residents to refrain from resorting to violent service delivery in the event of interruption of service delivery. We must all be mindful that the floods left us with huge damage, and as a result, certain areas would occasionally be affected by this reality while we are hard at work to bring the situation to normalcy. Circumstances are therefore compelling all of us to work together to come up with solutions to all our problems.
We are elated that after the relaxation of Covid-19 regulations, our city continues to host mega events with success. There are the Hollywoodbets Durban July and the Comrades Marathon. They have both injected hundreds of millions into our economy.
We are optimistic that within a short period we will turn the corner. Let me, therefore, congratulate all runners that participated in this iconic marathon. We are looking forward to meeting them again next year.
Cllr Mxolisi Kaunda is the mayor of eThekwini Municipality.
Daily News