DURBAN - Action SA’s eThekwini mayoral candidate, Makhosi Khoza, has challenged other parties contesting for control of eThekwini Municipality to reveal their mayoral candidates, declaring that failure to do so amounts to undermining the metro’s residents.
As the local government elections draws closer, Khoza accused parties such as the ANC, DA and EFF of using the face of national leaders when they should be displaying faces of individuals that will lead at local government level.
“I am challenging all these parties to take people of eThekwini seriously and announce candidates that will stand for mayor,” Khoza said.
Khoza is no stranger to politics, having served in different political and administrative levels including being deputy mayor in Msunduzi Municipality, South African Local Government Association (Salga) chief executive and ANC MP.
Khoza said local government was about service delivery and it was important to have a mayor with a clear vision of how the municipality’s multibillion-rand budget would be used to provide services, build communities and stimulate economic growth.
“Mayors determine the agenda of a municipality. They determine the institutional culture of service delivery, the tone for the fight against corruption and the direction on job creation,” Khoza said.
She noted that the three parties had revealed their mayoral candidates in Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, City of Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Bay, but had not done so with eThekwini. She said the failure to reveal eThekwini candidates was a further illustration of a disregard for Durban residents.
Several radio and television stations are holding debates where parties get a chance to state how they will improve the sphere of local government, and Khoza said parties should give their mayoral candidates a chance to articulate their vision for the municipality.
She stressed that by revealing the candidates, parties would put citizens in a good position to assess individual candidates and determine whether they were suitable enough to occupy the municipality’s top political position.
Last month, the DA said the decision not to field a mayoral candidate was due to the “political dynamics in the metro”.
“Considering the political dynamics in eThekwini, we are focused on a ward-based strategy to field and profile councillors who the electorate will be directly voting for. This ties into our recently adopted campaign to unite, rebuild and protect communities after the recent unrest which is being led by our councillors and candidates. With the strong emergence of ANC breakaway independents, this is even more crucial to build on the 10 extra wards we won in 2016,” the DA said.
THE MERCURY