ANC, SACP at odds over running of Buffalo City Metro
The South African Communist Party and the ANC are at loggerheads over the running of the Buffalo City Metro.
It emerged at the ANC’S WB Rubusana regional lekgotla, which ended on Monday afternoon, that the two alliance partners did not agree on how the party had decided to transfer more power to the office of deputy mayor Princess Faku.
The SACP is also unhappy about outsourcing in BCM, which has affected refuse collection, with the municipality having to hire private companies to provide trucks while municipal vehicles remain broken.
The SACP and ANC held a bilateral meeting over the disagreements, where the communists raised their concerns.
The SACP’S Skenjana Roji district secretary, Siya Mdodi, told the meeting that the party did not agree with the move by the ANC to give Faku’s office more power because it forced departmental heads to effectively have two political bosses.
Mdodi was referring to a decision by the council to give Faku oversight of the BCM Development Agency, infrastructure and solid waste.
“As the party, we fundamentally disagree with that decision.
“We want to say it on this platform so we are engaged.
“We disagree as the Communist Party. The decision may be legally correct, it may be legally correct, [but] as the party we believe the decision is politically incorrect,” Mdodi said.
He said the ANC needed to rethink the decision.
“You are going to have HODS that are going to report to two political heads.
“When there are disagreements between the political heads, what are we going to do?”
Mdodi further berated the municipality for outsourcing refuse collection work to private companies.
“We have been raising this issue. Workers now bring pots to work because they have nothing to do.
“They get there and cook. Their work has been outsourced to private individuals.
“Another thing we must get close to is who are the people that get the work?
“Why do they get the work? Who benefits from this outsourcing?
“Both from politicians and administrations — we must not be tied with deals that are done at night.
“The municipality must not be dragged down by people who want to fill their pockets.
“People who want money must go into business and not fleece the municipality because it won’t have money to deliver services,” Mdodi said.
He said the municipality should be ashamed about the revelations by the Daily Dispatch about the metro’s broken-down refuse collection trucks, which forced it to outsource most of the work.
“It’s an indictment [of] the Anc-led government, it’s an indictment [of] the African National Congress,” he said, adding that the party should deal with corruption, including the introduction of lifestyle audits for politicians.
Mdodi said the main problem was that of politicians who “mortgaged” the municipality to business people who allegedly funded their lifestyles.
ANC regional spokesperson Vuyo Jali declined to comment on Mdodi’s address and referred the Dispatch to the regional secretary, Antonio Carels. He could not be reached for comment.