Pietermaritzburg - The Democratic Alliance has called for urgent government intervention to prevent the total collapse of the uMgungundlovu District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.
The recent flag by Auditor General Kimi Makwetu on uMgungundlovu District Municipality as the worst-performing municipality in KwaZulu-Natal substantiates the DA's call for the municipality to be placed under section 139 (1) (b) of the Constitution, DA executive committee member in uMgungundlovu Ross Strachan said in a statement on Sunday.
"The district is failing to execute its basic obligations to provide consistent service delivery. Umgeni Municipality faces days without water and the number of bursts water pipes that are being experienced due to old, unmaintained, and dilapidated infrastructure is overwhelming. The technical services teams are really trying their best, but without support and capacity, it proves to be an impossible task," he said.
The uMshwati Municipality had the same problem. Wartburg residents were left without water for days on end. Residents had to wait for water tankers to arrive to relieve the situation, if and when they were available. Councillors were forced to become 24-hour customer care lines, as the municipal call centre was completely dysfunctional.
Last week Makwetu flagged the uMgungundlovu District Municipality as the worst-performing district municipality in the province. This had been the case for almost two years now, and there had been no intervention, Strachan said.
"It is plagued by financial mismanagement, maladministration, and corruption of the highest order. The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) has been deployed and have failed to break through the rot. The poor leadership from the governing party, the ANC, has forced the municipality to collapse under a corrupt administration that seems to be protected by senior politicians," he said.
Money that should have been used for the betterment of the people living in the district had been wasted on irregular, wasteful, and fruitless spending, and large costs to irregular, irresponsible legal matters.
"Yet the existing and rapidly depleting rate-base must continue to pay, with the burden growing exponentially under very difficult economic conditions."
The DA called for action by cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC Sipho Hlomuka for an immediate, long-overdue intervention in the uMgungundlovu District Municipality.
"The ANC government continues to fail to execute the most basic of mandates, especially in this current [coronavirus] state of disaster," Strachan said.