Durban Mayor's tough first year in office

Mayor Zandile Gumede highlighted Land invasions, disruption of service, construction mafia groups as among the challenges she faced during her first year in office. Photo Se-Anne Rall

Mayor Zandile Gumede highlighted Land invasions, disruption of service, construction mafia groups as among the challenges she faced during her first year in office. Photo Se-Anne Rall

Published Oct 12, 2017

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Durban - Land invasions, disruption of service, construction mafia groups, revenue billing challenges, malfunctioning of the city's call centre and Glebelands and Inchanga murders.

There were some of the challenges highlighted by eThekwini Mayor, Zandile Gumede as she reported on her first 365 days in office on Thursday.

Gumede also highlighted a number of projects undertaken by the municipality since she took over office. 

According to Gumede, when she took over as mayor, the economy of the country was under pressure.

"The rating agencies's decision to downgrade SA had a knock on effect on all of us. However as eThekwini we have increased our GDP by 0.93 per cent while employment in the formal sector has increased by 0.9 per cent. The Quarterly unemployment rate we are at 21.8 per cent which is a decrease ofor 0.2 per cent according to Stats SA," she said. 

Gumede said the city has increased the capital budget in 2017/2018, meaning there is money available for service delivery and infrastructure development.

During her speech, Gumede expounded on attracting investment to the city, Radical Economic Transformation, the city's clean up programme and other projects run by the municipality.

Touching on the controversial Essence Festival, Gumede said from the launch of the event last year, this year's fair "grew in leaps and bounds.

"It has given a much needed selling and marketing platform to more than 20 000 visitors over the years, resulting in its growth from humble beginnings to becoming the biggest small business fair in SA," Gumede said.

Gumede concluded her delivery by encouraging the community to work with the municipality in order to create a better city

Daily News

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