Durban — According to the DA in KwaZulu-Natal, the eThekwini Municipality is failing to repair its deteriorating infrastructure because the funds budgeted for the repairs were diverted to ensure that both the EFF and ANC manifesto launches at Moses Mabhida stadium are successful.
The EFF is scheduled to hold its manifesto rally at the stadium next week, while the ANC will launch its own at the same venue three weeks later.
DA chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal, Dean Macpherson, said since the EFF eThekwini chairperson, Themba Mvubu, was in charge of a big chunk of the City’s budget as head of the infrastructure committee, the DA suspected he would use his influence to divert funds, which was why residents on the north of the City had been without water for weeks.
“If they can take the City money to pay for the ANC Women’s League conference, what can stop them from taking the money again to fund their election campaign rallies?” said Macpherson.
The party also accused the City of dragging its feet to act against people fingered by the City Integrity and Investigations Unit (CIIU) in its report on the matter of the ANCWL conference saga, adding that the report had initially recommended that the senior official who had signed the memorandum committing the City to pay for the conference should be suspended pending disciplinary action, but the report was watered down.
Last year it emerged that the ANCWL conference, which took place in August, was paid for upfront as it was the policy, and later ActionSA revealed that the municipality had signed a commitment that it would pay for the events. ActionSA leader Zwakele Mncwango wrote to the CIIU and asked it to probe the allegations.
Hitting back, the EFF’s Mvubu said the DA was jealous of the EFF’s organisational strength that has for the past 10 years been able to organise rallies and pay for all its programmes without using state resources – a “documented fact”.
“We got into participating in government less than a year ago. And the DA suggests that we cannot now fund ourselves. We get money from IEC, Parliament, and from our public representatives through party levy,” said Mvubu.
The ANC in eThekwini was angered by the accusations and challenged the DA to provide evidence to support their claims. ANC spokesperson Mlondi Mkhize suggested that it would be more appropriate for the DA to report the issue to the police while opening a case.
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