Durban - eThekwini Municipality has appealed to city residents not to panic because of political confusion created by Zandile Gumede’s refusal to vacate the mayoral position.
City spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city was operating normally despite political challenges.
He said Fawzier Peer remained the acting mayor despite the fact that the ANC had asked her to also step down as the deputy mayor.
“We have got acting mayor, we have got city manager (Sipho Nzuza) who is leading the administration and we have officials who fully understand the municipality’s constitutional mandate of providing basic services to residents,” said Mayisela.
The ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) had last week instructed Gumede, Peer, former speaker William Mapena and former chief whip Neli Nyanisa to step down after it had found that they had poorly performed their municipal responsibilities. The party also instructed them to officially tender their resignations.
However, Gumede took the ANC by surprise on Wednesday when she informed the ANC and municipality that she was withdrawing her resignation. This was despite the ANC insisting that current Transport, Safety and Community Liaison MEC Mxolisi Kaunda would be sworn in as the new mayor, and former finance MEC Belinda Scott as the deputy mayor.
“We are appealing to residents to rest assured that there is nothing that is going to stop service delivery because of the current state of affairs of which we are very optimistic that it would soon come to and end,” said Mayisela.