WATCH | 'Phansi mayor, phansi', EFF chants at eThekwini council meeting

The eThekwini council’s final meeting of the year descended into chaos on Thursday after an hour’s delay deemed it illegal.

Speaker Thabani Nyawose said the delay was due to an executive council meeting running over schedule.

He said he communicated with councillors at the venue at 10am when their meeting was set to start and asked that the executive committee meeting continue.

The DA opposed this, saying it was illegal for the meeting to continue and asked for a 15-minute break to deliberate on the way forward.

DA members eventually walked out of the council meeting.

The EFF called on mayor Mxolisi Kaunda to leave, while the DA caucused by citing his “premature” opening of beaches and failure to house April's flood victims. They blamed Kaunda for the “mess” in the city, including unsafe beaches and issues with tenders. 

“The only item we are going to entertain today [Thursday], at the top of the agenda, is the issue of people who were affected by floods in April who are still housed in community halls,” EFF caucus leader in eThekwini and regional chairperson Themba Mvubu told TimesLIVE.

“We can't allow that situation, during Christmas, after a commitment was made by this council that they would be removed from halls to better spaces.

“The issue of Durban beaches and swimming pools that are dry, without water, while the mayor was doing PR exercises and making people believe everything was well. We know there is an issue of sewage spillage in the city that has been happening for a very long time,” he said.

“Recent samples after the mayor went to the beach and paraded himself with his entourage made us believe everything was well. We found the E. coli bacteria at this beach is still way above what is normally acceptable.”

Mvubu added that the city had failed to maintain infrastructure, such as sewerage pipes, which affected beaches and the tourism industry. 

“All those responsible — the heads, the deputies, accounting officers and the mayor — must account, because during this period eThekwini relies heavily on the tourism sector. If people are not coming here it affects a lot of people in the sector,” he said.

While Mvubu didn’t want to single out Kaunda, the EFF councillors were openly chanting “Kaunda must go”.

eThekwini deputy mayor Philani Mavundla admitted the EFF’s points were valid.

“We need to take it seriously because they are complaining about genuine things. I have reported on the issue of the infrastructure of eThekwini since March this year — that was long before the floods.

“Everybody has been fully aware that out of 27 wastewater plants, 24 don’t have [a] licence and 17 have been run to total failure. Not only in April,” said Mavundla.

The meeting was adjourned and a new date will be announced within a week.

TimesLIVE

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