Apology owed

THE eThekwini municipality’s decision to contribute more than R760 000 to the funeral of well-known Durban businessman Don Mkhwanazi cannot be justified.

The council’s nonchalance with ratepayers is at odds with the fiduciary duties city officials have by dint of being in charge of the public purse.

The council has insisted that the money only went into hiring the International Convention Centre venue because Mkhwanazi’s stature meant the funeral was “almost like a national funeral”.

The reasoning is unsatisfactory. If this line of thinking were to be followed, the city would bankrupt itself burying any high-profile person.

The city might have made a financial contribution to Mkhwanazi’s funeral, but it has taken away from the reputation he had spent his life building.

Although often associated with his pro-President Jacob Zuma stance, Mkhwanazi was a voice of equal opportunities in the workplace and his business acumen was well known long before apartheid ended.

He might have benefited from, but he was not made by, political associations.

The municipality’s behaviour therefore besmirches Mkhwanazi’s name and contribution to the city, and to the economic and professional empowerment of the historically marginalised.

The council owes his family an apology as much as it owes the ratepayer an explanation.

That Mkhwanazi’s widow Zodwa Msimang sits on the board of the ICC has shone an unnecessary spotlight on a woman who ordinarily should be left in peace to come to terms with the obvious traumatic experience of losing a life partner.

If there is anyone who has not shown the ubuntu that mayor Zandile Gumede has called for, it is the council itself. It could have been transparent and communicated its intentions along with the rationale at the time of planning the funeral, not two months later.

Gumede has promised a full report at next week’s meeting. This can only be a preliminary move.

This task would be better handled by a multiparty committee. Asking the council to investigate itself is a guarantee that the findings, even if factually true, will lack legitimacy if they are not followed by consequences for those who made the decision to spend that amount of money on the funeral.