PHILANI MAVUNDLA
Greetings people of eThekwini.
Following the monies that the treasury keeps taking away from eThekwini Municipality, one is tempted to voice concerns and remind the eThekwini political leadership of their failures.
eThekwini needs to go back to the drawing board to understand that one cannot start building anything unless one starts with the foundation.
This is a basic principle because they were told by iqaba (barbarian) the opposition deputy mayor who in their eyes was going to delay them to chow money for their political gains, I told them this countless times and was ignored time and again!
The foundation here is the adequate capacity of our wastewater treatment works as well as our water infrastructure.
Unless something is done about our failing and overloaded infrastructure, we should not even be applying for monies because nothing can be built if the capacity of the infrastructure is not dealt with, speedily!
eThekwini knows this because I told them and I was viewed as a counter-revolutionary.
I see nothing revolutionary in not repairing the infrastructure.
I have previously alluded to the 88 000m² of sludge being dumped into the sea just in the year 2022 alone.
One will remember that when Cornubia was constructed the City forgot that since this was a human settlement, schools should have been built simultaneously with these houses. When families moved there, there were no schools or other recreational facilities and this is not good spatial planning.
Same with Cato Crest. There are high-rise flats with no water or sanitation supply because houses were built without this infrastructure in place. Again, ask yourself, who in the right mind does this? Only when the interest is pocketing fat tenders from friends connected to politics and forgetting people on the ground, and maybe forgetting that patriotism as to why are we in these positions of influence in the first place!
During the discussion on the budget in 2022, a sizeable amount had been moved from the infrastructure cluster, through the infrastructure grants budget to other “nice-to-haves”. I fought for this to be rectified and again, I was hated for this. This is where my troubles started when senior politicians influenced the staff negatively about me. I have these on record and they don’t know that!
It is now clear to me that eThekwini has been spending the infrastructure budget on nice-to-haves instead of putting it into the infrastructure, by me demanding that the infrastructure money remains in the infrastructure cluster has left the city exposed and signs of having no capacity to spend are written all over. More than R300 million has now been taken away, and they are just bubbling hot air on plans! The financial year is two months away, and how on earth were they going to spend that money on infrastructure?
This is what they have been always doing:
- Their corrupt politicians will shift these monies from these grants to units they control easily.
- You find these monies “buried” to ward councillors and sometimes to tourism and parks for their campaign programmes.
- Nearer to the end of the financial year, they are now fully budgeted into those units.
- The interesting one, is when their SCM (instruction from the finance committee) would frustrate processes and nearer the end of the financial year, boom, the whole tender templates are changed just four months or so before the end of the financial year! These are done so that no person in their right mind can be able to finish the bid spec in a new dictated template within four months. Then these monies are moved to where they can be committed easily!
Anikwazi ukungcola okuseThekwini! (You don’t know the dirt that’s in eThekwini) Kodwa ke (But) because everyone was obsessed about removing Mavundla because he was proving a threat to Kaunda – here we are now! I know of all efforts and companies that contributed to buying votes to councillors to vote against me. In time, I will share these. Kodwa ke okwamanje (But for now), bantu baseThekwini (people of eThekwini) just know that they won’t be building not even one RDP home in the recent time. If they come and promise you that, know that they will be lying just to get your votes next year! Yizwani ngami (Take it from me), I knew that the treasury was ultimately going to catch them! And I am sad that things got here because the biggest losers here are poor communities.
One can only attribute this to many failures but on top of it all, a city the size of Durban cannot sustain with a political head who cares more about dribbling and neutralising his “political enemies” than the city. They won’t say it, but his entire executive committee are fed up with him, his bossy tendencies and lack of self-esteem make him not allow other team members to ventilate their leadership capacities. They know it and are scared to speak.
He has fully controlled the communications department as his mouthpiece painting him the magician using taxpayers’ money with no results on the ground! If you don’t believe me, go to that joint and see how much is spent on TV, radio and publications where only the mayor (as a face of the city) is allowed to do those! How absurd is that in this day and age? I know of many instances where I will be in a programme but my photos will be deliberately cut and narrative changed on publications just because I am not ANC! Go to that department and find out on your own, they are captured to the core for splashing the political head who must be portrayed as successful and a magician no matter what! But let’s see the results! We are being lied to that the city is now clean. Kephi khona? (Where?) CSW (Cleansing and Solid Waste) has tensions; even right now there are depots not working because of tensions between the senior management and questionable appointments linked to the region.
The question remains to the mayor:
- How many wastewater treatment plants have the licence now since I discovered that and ventilated to them, ngaxoshwa? (I was fired)
- How many have they registered now?
Kusho khona bakwethu ukuthi (It goes to show that in) eThekwini you flush at your house, and it’s literally going down the pipes to the nearest river or maybe even contaminating the very water resources you drink.
Simply, treatment plants are not working, and they can’t fix them!
Ask the new deputy mayor about her roles and their relationship. The house is on fire, and it’s only been two months! Thulani nibheke! (Be quiet and watch)
The once glorious city can also not sustain itself by having inexperienced people running the city while those who possess knowledge are placed in junior positions so that the politicians can loot freely!
I have been there, seen it all and tried my best to fight, but it was not to be! Only feeling bad for the citizens of this city. Now we are told faeces are all around the CBD. Kusekuncane lokhu (This is nothing) and I will sadly keep on saying: I told you so!
Have a blessed week ahead. Ake ngiqhubeke ngizilusele izinkomo zikaBaba eplazini (Let me tend to my father’s cows on the farm), only sad for my four properties in that city and my kids staying there.
Philani Mavundla is ABC president and former eThekwini deputy mayor. He writes in his personal capacity.
Daily News