The election for a new Mayor of eThekwini has been postponed.
This follows the redeployment of Mxolisi Kaunda to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), two weeks ago.
A new mayor was expected to be elected at the first full council meeting on Tuesday, since the May 29 election.
However council speaker Thabani Nyawose said while it was on the agenda the municipality was unable to secure teams to oversee the voting process and swear in the candidate, TimesLive reported.
They further reported that the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) team wasn't available to preside over the process.
Nyawose further explained that if a new mayor was to be elected, the IEC must be present to preside over the process because the election must be done in a secret ballot.
Veteran ANC politician, Cyril Xaba was widely tipped to unveiled as the new mayor on Wednesday.
It is unclear why the decision was pulled.
Reacting to the new the Democratic Alliance’s Thabani Mthethwa told IOL that they were disappointed.
“We don’t believe that there should be a vacancy in such a critical position. It must be filled as soon as possible to ensure there is stability and leadership.”
However political experts told IOL that the new mayor will have to work hard to restore the City’s image and regain ratepayers’ confidence.
One of them is political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu who said that the incumbent mayor will have to prioritise cleaning Durban.
“You hold your nose when you walk around the city centre. Work will have to be done to revitalise the city. Businesses have left the city and it’s not longer an attractive place because of the crime.
“The main priority is to deal with crime, clean the city, enforce by-laws, and tackle the issue of illegal electrical connections,” he said.
A new date has been set for mid or late July to elect a new mayor.
IOL News