Durban - There was an outcry after eThekwini Municipality ward 25 councillor Themba Mkhize said f**k you to a Springtown resident asking for help.
Ward 25 is run by the ANC and covers the Springfield area.
In a screenshot of the incident, the resident had, at 10.49am, via a WhatsApp message, asked the councillor to come to the aid of the people in Springtown. Two minutes later, the resident asked the councillor not to read his messages and not reply, adding many families under his ward lost their homes and lives yet he was not doing anything.
At 8.31pm, the councillor replied “f**k u”.
Speaking to the Daily News Mkhize said: “For me to say f**k u, it wasn’t my intention and I apologise for it. But I still believe the person was basically swearing at me too by saying I am sitting down and doing nothing.
“There are a lot of swear words they use on me. I’ve saved them and I just laugh because that’s what I was told to do.”
Explaining what made him snap, Mkhize said that after Monday night, “even though I was affected” and in the morning there was no road access, he went to check on the ward.
“I went everywhere, even Springtown, the area of the person who said I’m sitting down doing nothing. I got there where two people were injured, including a police officer,” Mkhize said.
“My belief is that they don’t know the councillor and I believe they loathe him. They don’t know the councillor, they don’t care about the councillor.”
He said he had visited a lot of places, including places where people had died.
He then went to Quarry Road, where there was also damage.
He found out two people were missing but only one body was found. He spoke to people who were there and brought a tractor and a TLB to clear the road.
“I brought that and nobody else,” he said.
He said also accompanied Department of Social Development officials looking for homes where people had died.
“I drove and checked roads and went to places where bodies had not been found,” Mkhize said.
He said that on Wednesday, he received a message saying he was sitting down and doing nothing.
“The anger I felt in that moment, people had been dug out in front of me, the number of bodies I had seen. The anger I felt,” Mkhize said.
“As much as I apologised, I feel that person was racist. That person doesn’t know me, he hadn’t seen me. Since they don’t know the councillor, even when he is in front of them, they don't know who he is.”
Mkhize said maybe the person who sent the message had sent it while he was at the scene and they were there too.
“At that time, the first feeling that came to me was that this person wanted to be rude and then I said f**k u. It was a f**k u out of anger,” Mkhize said.
He said the matter was between the ANC and the DA.
He added that what hurt was that he recently held a meeting with the community and told them there was a bridge between the Indian and black community. He said he told them he knew that they did not vote for him.
“I asked for us to work together,” Mkhize said.
“Someone requested that I make a public apology, I did that. But they want the councillor to be changed, but there’s a process.”
Raeesa Joosab, who shared the screenshot on Facebook over the weekend, said the screenshot was sent to her by a concerned citizen.
“His response left us speechless!” Joosab said.
“The councillor has been notified about this post going viral and has been given until the end of business day tomorrow (April 19, 2022) to release a public apology and to actually do the job that he was elected to do. If there’s a failure to do so, we will submit a formal complaint to the eThekwini speaker and take the matter forward.”
This is how people reacted to the screenshot:
Janitha Moodliar said: “An apology means nothing… he must be dismissed from his job immediately.”
Mohammed Rameez said: “Unfortunately this is nothing new from him as I live in the same ward that stretches over Springtown (ward 25). He has made it clear that he is not here for the residents. We have been trying to engage with him many times for basic service delivery and all has failed. Our road is breaking away and we needed him to escalate this issue to higher authorities within the eThekwini Municipality exco. Unfortunately the road and many other service delivery issues will never get sorted. Rate-paying residents of ward 25 are on their own.”
Selvan Thambiran said: “His exact words were he does not represent the formals because it was the informals who voted for him therefore, he will do things only for them.”
Lavashnee Dorasamy said: “This councillor does nothing… He told me that it's not his problem.”
Daily News