Durban - Durban’s city manager has been accused of intentionally blocking access to a report on the future of Virginia Airport and the DA is now using the law in trying to see the feasibility study.
On Thursday Durban North councillor Shaun Riley said the DA had made a Public Access to Information Act application for the report which city manager Sbu Sithole had had for some time but refused to share.
The study was done by Royal HaskoningDHV after being commissioned by the eThekwini Municipality.
Sithole was overseas and could not be reached for comment. The municipality did not respond to a request for comment.
“It would seem, on the face of it, that some entity stands to gain substantially from the removal of the airport. However, it should also be noted that the DA is not the only one who is battling to elicit any answers, as airport operators are also being kept in the dark,” Riley said.
He said it was believed that Sithole had summarised the report and it was this summarised version that he intended tabling at the next executive committee meeting. However, since August 19 the matter had continuously been deferred and exco meetings had been cancelled.
“The DA is of the firm view that a decision on the future of Virginia Airport cannot be made on the basis of a summary made by the city manager where findings could easily be quoted out of context and the subjectivities of the individual find a way in.”
Riley said Sithole had not responded to his official, hand-delivered letter asking for the full report to be made available to him in a week’s time.
“Besides a signed and stamped acknowledgement of receipt from the secretary of the city manager, no other response was forthcoming.”
Riley said he had made it clear that the manner in which the full report was being held back was not in the best interest of transparent and accountable government.
“I also requested that the details of the costs incurred by the municipality in commissioning the report be furnished to my office by the same date,” he said.
Riley said the DA believed that requests for perusal of the document were being “dodged”. This cast doubt on the legitimacy of the process and even on the report itself.
The DA would not stop probing the matter until a public participation process was adhered to and the report was made available so that interested and affected parties could comment on the findings.
MF councillor Patrick Pillay said the report affected a lot of people and Sithole should not keep it secret.
“There is no need to move the airport from where it is. The worst thing the city can do is to change something that is working. The operators there have a working plan that is successful,” he said.
Daryl Mann, owner of Aero Natal, who has been speaking for the operators, said they were going to take Sithole to court and would win.
Mann said they were losing business as no one wanted to invest in the airport because of its unsure future. “He is killing aviation in Durban.
“We will not move and we will make sure that we get our 10-year leases signed because the way things are going now aviation is going nowhere,” he said.
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said it was shocking that the leases were still not signed despite a council decision for that to happen. Nkosi said Sithole’s job was to ensure that council decisions were implemented.
“What we want to know is why he is holding up the signing of these leases.
“It is now obvious that there are people who have other interests in this matter, hence the delay.
“Those leases have to be signed,” he said.
The Mercury