Durban – The last council meeting of eThekwini Municipality is on the verge of collapse after the DA walked out of the meeting today (Thursday).
The party had raised an objection to procedures after the start of the meeting was delayed.
The meeting was scheduled to start at 10am and the rules of council say if the meeting has been delayed by more than 30 minutes, it must be rescheduled.
DA councillor Warren Burne said they had tried to save the meeting but failed and finally had to walk out. "They are going to have to schedule it for next week; this is a complete waste of time and resources.”
The EFF came to the meeting armed with placards calling for an end to tender corruption and called for the ousting of mayor Mxolisi Kaunda (ANC).
Some placards stated that there was still sewage floating in eThekwini beaches.
This comes after DA eThekwini caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa called for the immediate resignation of the mayor last Friday as he accused Kaunda of failing to tackle the sewage crisis and misleading the public about the state of the beaches.
“DA calls for mayor Kaunda to immediately resign from his position as mayor of eThekwini Municipality as he has shown beyond reasonable doubt that he has failed in his duties to resolve the sewer crisis which has gone on for more than eight months, subjecting the residents to a serious health disaster,” he said.
Mthethwa said the party would give Kaunda at least seven days to consider stepping down.
“Should mayor Kaunda fail to concede to his failures as the head of the municipality, we will immediately begin looking at bringing a motion of no confidence against the mayor at the next council meeting which will be in January 2023.
“We have begun consulting with the relevant stakeholders in this regard and there is a strong feeling that the mayor has been completely absent since the floods occurred, leaving residents and the poor to fend for their own,” he said.