Durban - Details on the Section 154 intervention into the eThekwini Municipality by the KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Department are expected to be provided soon.
The department confirmed last week that experts, including former director-general in the Presidency, Dr Cassius Lubisi, and the City’s former municipal manager and now local government consultant, Michael Sutcliffe, would be sent to assist the metro under Section 154 of the Constitution, which allows for the provincial or national government to provide help to municipalities where there are concerns.
The City faces general decay and infrastructure challenges, and has failed to spend R322 million it received in grant funding, while city manager Musa Mbhele is being probed for allegedly failing to disclose an investigation against him during the interview for the job. It is expected that representatives from Cogta will meet Lubisi and Sutcliffe this week.
Sutcliffe yesterday said he would not engage with the media until the matter had been finalised, but confirmed there had been ongoing discussions with the department.
The ANC in the eThekwini region yesterday said they firmly supported the intervention as it would speed up service delivery.
“Our hope is that the people of eThekwini can benefit from maximum service delivery and an effective institution,” said the region’s spokesperson Mondli Mkhize.
“We are glad that this team is being introduced to intervene. They are seasoned administration experts and they have the type of experience that can get us to deliver services,” he said.
Mkhize said one of the main issues with the city was that it was taking too long to procure much-needed services.
“We know that the intervention team will start with a fact-finding mission and we hope they can find out if the tender system is being abused.”
Mkhize said they expected the City to fully co-operate with Lubisi and Sutcliffe and did not expect anyone to reject what was described as muchneeded assistance.
“If you have a problem with ego, because they are external advisers, then the ANC will help you deal with that. These people will be there to ensure that services are delivered timeously,” he said.
The party’s National Working Committee was in the province at the weekend to assess service delivery challenges in eThekwini and other municipalities.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said service-delivery challenges and failures in the province required systemic responses.
“Among the issues that have been flagged across the entire province is the provision of water,” he said.