ActionSA in eThekwini Metro has expressed its reservations on whether the presidential team assigned to eThekwini would be able to fix the myriad problems threatening to cripple the City.
The party said rather than bringing in new people to work with the City’s leadership, the current leadership should rather be replaced.
Last week the Presidency announced that the Cabinet had resolved to send a team to eThekwini.
The metro has been besieged by crises. It has been struggling to supply water to some areas and had recently endured a bruising strike by members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu).
In a statement following a Cabinet meeting last week, it was announced that the Cabinet welcomed the establishment of an eThekwini Presidential Working Group constituting the three spheres of government and the private sector.
The statement said this group aims to address the challenges relating to service delivery, climate change, infrastructure, socio-economic development, and governance through a co-ordinated effort involving the three spheres of government working with civil society and the private sector.
The Cabinet statement said the Presidential eThekwini Working Group would mainly focus to accelerate implementation of existing and new interventions by leveraging the resources, expertise, and capabilities of both government and the private sector to improve service delivery in water and sanitation, road infrastructure, safety and security, as well as improve disaster management, and positioning eThekwini as an investment and tourism hub again.
ActionSA councillor Alan Beesley said, “We do not believe the presidential team announced to address the issues within eThekwini will be effective. Rather than appointing a team, those currently tasked with running the City should be replaced with new people.
“This includes the mayor and his leadership who clearly don’t have the political will or competence to lead the City. The issues in eThekwini are deep-rooted and only a complete change in leadership will be able to fix these issues,” he said.
The Mercury