Durban - The President of Abantu Batho Congress (ABC) Philani Mavundla has lambasted KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Public Works and Human Settlement, Jomo Sibiya, for his plan to centralise disaster relief funds to his department despite its “proven poor records”
As KZN looks forward to receiving billions of rand in funds from the national treasury and donors to respond to catastrophic floods, political parties were watching with an eagle eye as to how the funds would be administered.
They raised fears of corruption elements that may arise in the implementation, as had occurred in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The department of human settlement had started re-prioritising its budget and focusing on building temporary shelters for the victims who lost everything.
Sibiya was reported to have declared that his department would administer the implementation of the disaster, rebuilding houses. About 15 000 people were displaced when their 7 000 homes were swept away by floods.
Mavundla, a deputy mayor in eThekwini Municipality and chairperson of the Human Settlement and Infrastructure Committee, said they learnt with shock from Sibiya that his department would be directly handling human settlements disaster programmes.
Mavundla is a key in the ANC-led coalition governing the hardest hit eThekwini Municipality, hence he chairs the most important committee with a chunk of the city's budget.
He argued that disaster management had nothing to do with what the MEC was alleging, saying it was another scheme of making money for their “selfish egos and self-interests”
“It is common cause that provincial departments are worse off than municipalities in terms of financial management, let alone the capacity to deliver as promised with hands on the deck.
“Many of the departments of KZN government are under SIU investigations due to Covid-19 funds mismanagement and corruption ranging from PPEs to the provision of the famous blankets and inflated Jojo tanks.
“We know that most senior officials became victims in the protection of the real thieves who are big politicians leading these glorified departments. Most of these departments have not done well on audits and none have clean audits,” said Mavundla.
Mavundla said that centralising the relief implementation was an unfair move, saying some of the affected municipalities handle much more than the provincial department's budget allocation without major problems.
“His statement is malicious and shows the excitement of a leader who is overwhelmed and ready to do what the provincial government did to Covid-19 allocations
“Unfortunately, The hardest hit are flood victims who are facing more hardships at the hands of corrupt leaders who are ready to pounce on not so enough money for the poor.
“We are calling on Sibiya to consult widely and desist in making unilateral decisions that affect municipalities directly,” he added.
In response, Sibiya said workers from the departments were working closely with municipal workers in eThekwini Municipality and other municipalities.
“Since we experienced severe weather patterns that resulted in the destruction of homes and other social infrastructure, This work is augmented by Operation Sukuma Sakhe War Rooms and councillors on the ground. We continue to receive updates on the requests for temporary residential units and permanent houses for the affected families.
In addition, we wish to assure the people of eThekwini that speed, efficiency and integrity will remain the hallmark of our work during this term of office,”said Sibiya.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE