Newly appointed eThekwini municipal manager Sipho Nzuza has laid out his priorities for the city as he is about to assume the hot seat next month.
Nzuza, 54, was appointed last month and is currently serving his notice as manager of the Port of Cape Town.
In a phone interview with The Mercury on Sunday, Nzuza said improving quality of life and making eThekwini a world-class city would be among his top priorities.
Nzuza is originally from uMlazi township. He takes over from former manager Sbu Sithole, whose contract expired in December last year amid rumours of a falling-out with mayor Zandile Gumede.
Sithole re-interviewed for the job and lost out to Nzuza. It was reported yesterday that Sithole was questioning how he was scored lowest of the candidates interviewed and had threatened legal action to get clarity on the scores. Sithole could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Nzuza said that while a lot had been done to uplift eThekwini, much still needed to be done. “Once I have started I will meet with mayor Gumede and we will map out the priorities for the city.
“Among the things we need to look at is how to enhance growth and put eThekwini on the map. We need to look at how we grow trade, how we grow tourism and how we create jobs and improve the lives of the people. I have many ideas that would put the city on a pedestal and make it a city that would attract world attention.”
He said special attention would be paid to ratepayers and stakeholders, the city’s customers.
“We need to make sure they are happy living in eThekwini by meeting their needs and providing them with a good, clean environment.
“I live now in Cape Town which is one of the cleanest cities in the country. eThekwini should be that clean. Those are some of the things we could copy,” he said.
Nzuza said he would strive for governance that would balance service delivery and clean audits.
He has considerable experience in auditing and governance and has worked for a number of big organisations, including accounting firms, Transnet and the KZN Gaming Board, leading mostly in auditing and governance aspects.
“I am very governance driven. I was part of the audit team that achieved eThekwini’s first clean audit. Just looking after the books and that your finances are in order is a very old way of auditing.
"Today auditing looks at everything, including the performance, quality, efficiency and the impact you are having on the lives of the citizens. You might have clean books, but if you are failing on those other aspects of auditing, you fail the whole audit,” he said.
Nzuza said he was looking forward to returning to Durban. “I have two boys who are grown and will be remaining in Cape Town because of the work they do. Cape Town offers its own life but eThekwini is home,” he said.
Attempts to speak to Gumede were unsuccessful.