Durban - Newly announced eThekwini metro mayor Mxolisi Kaunda’s first order of business should be to clean up corruption within the administration and to ensure that service delivery is restored, the Inkatha Freedom Party said.
"Ridding the municipality of former mayor Zandile Gumede was the first phase in restoring order in eThekwini. The task at hand now for the new mayor should be to focus solely on ridding the entire municipality of the rot and corrupt activities which have transpired for far too long," IFP KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Thami Ntuli said in a statement.
"While we welcome the new metro mayor, we remain extremely concerned that the entire administration within eThekwini, which has remained unchanged, will not be able to effect the necessary changes required to speed up service delivery."
Residents, who had borne "the brutal brunt of political fighting and poor administration", were becoming increasingly impatient with the slow pace in which services had been delivered.
The IFP had earlier this month proposed to the KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive council that eThekwini be placed under administration. The IFP structures had also led protest action against the former regime within the municipality.
"We will not deter our structures from taking any further action in the spirit of cooperative governance, should it remain business as usual in the metro. It is our hope that residents’ needs and concerns are placed at the top of the agenda in eThekwini and that their concerns are not simply paid lip service to. We will hold the new mayor accountable for the restoration of good governance and quality service delivery."
Furthermore, the IFP noted the appointment of Mzimkhulu Thobela as the new mayor in the Msunduzi municipality. It was unfortunate that the talent pool within the ANC "remains stale and we note the recycling of leaders in KZN that have poor track records on local and provincial level", Ntuli said.