Battle for eThekwini's soul as suspended head of electricity locks horns with city manager

eThekwini city manager Musa Mbhele has issued a slew of instructions to his departmental heads to urgently implement a 13-point turnaround plan for the city. 

These include rolling out a programme to address illegal connections and reduce operating costs for businesses, fast-tracking capital projects to eliminate or reduce power outages.

Mbhele has also demanded upgrades to frail electricity bulk installations and networks across eThekwini, the restoration of power to areas that have experienced outages for a protracted period and repairing fractured relations with municipal employees. 

This move comes as he battles it out with his recently suspended head of electricity, Maxwell Mthembu, who is preparing to challenge his suspension, claiming it’s illegal.

Mthembu is accused of failing to obey instructions to issue letters of dismissal to striking workers in his unit.

“There's even talk about me being a member of Zuma's MK party, which is not true. I was not even given an opportunity to respond to the letter of intent to suspend me. Instead, I was suspended with immediate effect. The suspension is illegal, and I am going to fight it,” Mthembu told TimesLIVE Premium.

Ironically, Mthembu is also backed by the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), which spearheaded the recent strike action in the city.

Unfazed

However, Mbhele remains unfazed, saying his focus is to restore credibility among residents and businesses in the city.

“I don't want to be drawn into a public spat with the head of electricity. His suspension is a legal issue for the courts to decide on. My priority right now is to get the city moving,” he said.

Mbhele said the city has “lost too much economically”.

“Business confidence is at an all-time low, residents are angry, the power crisis has not been dealt with as expeditiously as it should have been, and we've lost time, money and jobs,” he said.

Mbhele added: “Lives have been compromised and employees are living in fear for their lives. People are angry and have all the right to be. My instructions to act on the 13-point plan were ignored for months, and things finally came to a head when we could no longer allow it to continue.” Mounting criticism

While an acting head of electricity in the eThekwini Municipality has been tasked to get cracking on the action plan, there is mounting criticism that the city is playing politics.

A textile factory owner who asked not to be named said: “We've been trying to tell city officials for months about our challenges as a business, but it has all fallen on deaf ears. They either don't attend our meetings, ignore us, or never keep to their promises. It's now elections, and again we're getting promises. My business has lost millions due to power outages, and nobody cares.”

Within minutes of Mthembu's suspension and Mbhele's instruction to officials to address the power outages, several areas were powered up, electricity restored — and DA councillors were being thanked for this.

Mthembu remains adamant he will not take the blame for the city's problems. Mbhele insists he won't be pulled into a public battle.

“As the city manager, I fully understand the buck stops with me, but I must have a team that works with me and not against me to get things done,” Mbhele said.