DA calls for the ousting of Msunduzi mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla

The DA, yesterday submitted the motion of no-confidence against Thebolla, calling for his removal. The municipality has been under administration for more than a year, and is plagued by electricity and water outages.

Msunduzi mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla. Picture: FACEBOOK/MSUNDUZI MUNICIPALITY.

Published Aug 17, 2021

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DURBAN - A MOTION of no-confidence has been put forward against Msunduzi mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla, who has been accused of being an ineffective leader and having failed to pull the municipality out of its current turmoil.

This is according to the DA, which yesterday submitted the motion of no-confidence against Thebolla, calling for his removal. The municipality has been under administration for more than a year, and is plagued by electricity and water outages.

But Thebolla fired back, saying the DA was playing politics and that there had been many improvements since he had been in office.

The DA said it had submitted the motion to the office of the Speaker and the city manager to be tabled and voted upon at the next full council meeting.

“The DA believes Thebolla has failed on his mandate and continues to lack the political will and leadership to effectively deal with the complete collapse of the municipality,” said DA councillor Ross Strachan.

Thebolla has been in office for the past few years, and during this time, “we have witnessed the municipality depreciate even further”, said Strachan.

“The fact that the Msunduzi Municipality received another qualified audit while under administration is already proof of the failure of his duties and the reasons given for the qualified audit, are in themselves enough evidence for a motion of no-confidence in the mayor,” he said.

Strachan said the extension of the administrator’s term for the second time was also proof of the lack of political, financial and administrative guidance by the mayor.

“The series of forensic reports and investigations into financial mismanagement and corruption in the municipality, is also a reflection on the state of the financial chaos in the municipality, as well as a lack of basic good governance,” he said.

Among the glaring signs of failure, said Strachan, were the negative image of the municipality in the media, the lack of confidence in the municipality and the general negative perception of the municipality by the residents of Msunduzi.

“With leadership comes responsibility, and the mayor has failed in all aspects to account for the situation Msunduzi finds itself in. He must go so that we can save what is left of Msunduzi,” he said.

Thebolla said he was not surprised by the motion. “I have heard of their motion. One of the things that they mentioned is the audit outcome. This would be my second year in office. We came from a situation where the municipality had an adverse finding and a disclaimer. We have moved to qualified opinions. While we are not happy with the qualified audit opinion, if you look at the issues raised by the A-G on those instances, they are vastly different in those opinions.

“Over the past two years, there has been a lot of improvement,” he said, adding that the DA should campaign and win elections if it wished to run the municipality.

ACDP councillor Rienus Niemand said the ACDP would wholeheartedly support a motion of no-confidence in the mayor.

“The governing party has not only been wholly responsible for the crisis that the municipality finds itself in but since the municipality has been placed under administration the financial situation has exponentially deteriorated.

“The theft of water and electricity has escalated dramatically – the debtors book now stands at over R5 billion. Decisive leadership has been absent in addressing the fundamentals.

“The administrator, the municipal manager and more specifically the mayor in his capacity as the leader of the governing party has failed the city and as the elected head he should be held accountable.”

THE MERCURY

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