I leave a stable city, says Kaunda
Durban — Contrary to a widespread belief that eThekwini Municipality was besieged with administrative and service delivery challenges, outgoing mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said he was leaving a stable City behind.
Kaunda was hastily recalled as the mayor by his party, the ANC, on Wednesday evening and was referred to the National Assembly as a new member of the National Council of Provinces. It is not yet clear what role he will play there since he was not on the provincial to national list of the ANC.
In his last public appearance as the mayor yesterday, Kaunda said he was happy that he was leaving a functional City behind, mentioning several successes that were achieved during his tenure. He said although he would leave it to residents to judge his legacy, he was happy that he was leaving behind a clean and financially stable City.
“I cannot rate myself and that would be up to the residents, but if you ask me whether I am leaving a clean City behind, I would tell you yes. If you ask me whether I am happy with the City's finances, I would say yes. I am happy that I am not leaving a financially collapsing City. You know that we have been getting unqualified audit opinions consistently,” boasted Kaunda.
Following Wednesday’s announcement by the ANC to redeploy Kaunda, ratepayers associations shared their views and hopes that the new mayor would improve service delivery.
Kaunda’s removal received a mixed reaction from residents; some questioned his removal, while others welcomed it.
Bluff Ratepayers and Residents Association (BRRA) vice-chairperson Allison Schoeman said the BRRA was deeply concerned about Kaunda’s sudden redeployment.
“As ratepayers, we demand transparency regarding the reasons behind this decision. Transparency is crucial to ensure accountability within the eThekwini Municipality,” Schoeman said.
“It is very questionable that mayor Kaunda, who survived two motions of no confidence – essentially purporting that he was doing his job as expected – has now been deemed unsuitable for his position. This abrupt change raises significant questions that remain unanswered.”
Jay Govender, secretary of Tongaat Ratepayers Association (TRA), said they did not have issues with him and wished him well because whenever they asked for assistance, he provided it.
“As a ratepayers association, we try to stay away from politics and we just hope that we will receive consistent, if not better, services going forward.”
Govender said she understood the logistical issues that Kaunda had faced as he had to deal with the whole city, and that the TRA had nothing bad to say about him.
Deputy chairperson of the Westville Ratepayers Association (WRA) and eThekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement (ERPM), Rose Cortes, said the all too familiar stance of redeployment as opposed to consequence management remained a threat to an accountable local government administration.
“Many are celebrating his (Kaunda’s) removal from our metro, and with great reason. My biggest grievance is his departure without consequence for the state he’s left our metro in. Granted, Kaunda is just the face of a largely unaccountable body. Hopefully, his redeployment will move our city forward,” Cortes said.
The restructuring and reprioritising of the eThekwini metro’s leadership was long overdue, she said.
“His (Kaunda’s) replacement has a lot of work to do, and hopefully will be receptive to building a fruitful and successful relationship with the ratepayers of eThekwini.”
Kaunda’s tenure was marred by several service delivery protests, particularly in the northern areas of the City, which at the time of his leaving was still struggling with water challenges.
Under his leadership, the City’s beaches had to be closed several times because of E coli.
There was an outcry that infrastructure had collapsed under his watch, leading to sewage leaks.
Opposition parties in eThekwini also welcomed his axing, saying it was “long overdue”.
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