Durban - The official opposition in the eThekwini Muncipality wants new mayor Mxolisi Kaunda and his new executive to crack the whip on the 62 councillors who have been implicated in a multi-million rand Durban Solid Waste tender.
This alongside issues such as waste collection and sewage are among the most pressing issues the city needed to tackle, the DA said.
At the media briefing held at its provincial head offices in the city, DA eThekwini caucus leader, Nicole Graham, said an issue that needed to be tackled was safety and policing. "In 2000, this council took a resolution that Metro Police would have 5 000 officers by 2010. Almost 20 years on, and the force are less than half that, and simply not big enough to cope."
Graham said there needed to be another meaningful recruitment process to get capable officers. She said this had been done in Johannesburg and Cape Town already.
She also highlighted how the city needed to recover debt that is owed especially by government departments and parastatals.
At the media briefing held at its provincial head offices in the city, DA eThekwini caucus leader, Nicole Graham outlined a list of issues that new mayor Mxolisi Kaunda needed to tackle. Video Mphahti Nxumalo.
"We can't continue to nail the average consumer but allow others to simply not pay and get away with it," she said.
Graham added that there needed to be action taken against the 62 councillors who were alleged to be working with former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede.
The city's full council and executive council has this year been dogged by controversy as Gumede faced fraud and corruption charges which pitted ANC councilors against each other and created tensions within the executive committee (Exco).
The situation led to Mxolisi Kaunda being appointed as the new eThekwini mayor when the provincial ANC made wholesale changes to eThekwini's Exco.