Covid allegedly hits ethekwini councillors and mayor Kaunda
THE ethekwini executive committee (Exco) is reeling as Covid-19 has apparently struck the metro, seemingly leading to council and Exco sittings to be postponed.
Speaker Thabani Nyawose and mayor Mxolisi Kaunda had to request the cancellation of all planned activities after unconfirmed reports that Kaunda was too ill due to Covid-19.
“The mayor requests that the Exco meeting of December 7 be postponed to next Monday, December 13. Further details in this regard will be communicated in due course.
“Please note the Speaker also requests postponement of the December 8 council meeting to next Wednesday, December 15.
“Again, further details will be communicated in due course. We do apologise should there be any inconvenience suffered as a result of the postponement of these meetings,” read the city’s communique.
A councillor claimed the cancellation was related to the high Covid-19 infection rate and they had to limit the risk of more councillors being infected.
“We were prepared and ready to go, but the lives of our councillors and staff are a priority in this regard,” said the councillor.
DA caucus leader Nicole Graham confirmed on Monday that she had tested positive for Covid-19. Graham said that a few other members of the DA had also tested positive.
DA Exco member Thabani Mthethwa said the postponement was an inconvenience because there were important items to be tabled.
“Unfortunately the number of infections is worryingly high. It was, therefore, necessary to postpone, firstly, to protect councillors and their families and members of the public against possible infections but, also for the Speaker's office to ensure that all councillors have access to virtual platforms so we can have a virtual meeting especially because there are new councillors,” said Mthethwa.
IFP chief whip and Exco member Mdu Nkosi said none of his council members had reported positive as yet.
“It’s unfortunate that the virus is spreading among council members, but it is a situation we cannot control at the moment. The challenge now is that the new members of council and Exco have not yet received their laptops so they can access virtual meetings. I think our municipality is not ready to have virtual meetings at the moment,” Nkosi said.
Approached for comment, municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said it was only the Department of Health that was mandated to speak on statistics related to the pandemic.
“The postponement of council meetings is normal. Please note that we do not discuss the health issues of our staff and councillors with the media. We are not aware of our mayor being sick. We do know that he has taken a break to attend to family matters,” Mayisela said.
Without providing a clear reason regarding the postponement of council and Exco meetings, Kaunda’s spokesperson Mluleki Mtungwa said he was unaware of Kaunda’s alleged illness and would not comment on the health of other councillors.
“Exco will convene next week as communicated by the municipality,” he said.
With Omicron’s rapid rise, the family of IFP founder and president emeritus Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi announced he had tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday, and was self-isolating. This was the second time Buthelezi had contracted Covid-19.
Speaking at a briefing on recent developments in virus trends in the province, Premier Sihle Zikalala said the province was officially experiencing the fourth wave of Covid-19 infections, and expressed concern over the rise of the number of people infected.
“In the past three weeks, our province has observed a significant climb in the rate of infections on a daily basis.
“The number of daily cases that have been registered in the past seven days has been rising at an alarming rate,” said Zikalala.