DA rejects abuse of taxpayers’ money by ANC and EFF

THE DA in ethekwini Municipality rejects with contempt the decision of the ANC and Eff-controlled municipality to make available almost R9 million of taxpayers’ money to ethekwini mayor, Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda, for him to supposedly speak to residents on service-related matters and build a positive image of the municipality through Izimbizo and events.

This is a pure self-aggrandising public relations (PR) exercise by the mayor that can only be seen as part of efforts to spread fake information about the true state of the city.

At the recent council meeting which took place on August 24, the ANC along with its coalition partners, used its thin majority to approve a request of R6 791 930 for mayoral izimbizo and R2 248 280 for civic and ceremonial functions.

This is a total cost of R9m to help Mayor Kaunda convince residents that the city is working.

Part of the expenditure includes R625 920 for artists and performers, R781 580 for stage and sound crew, and R3.2m for catering. The DA voted against this request.

While the DA appreciates the importance of community engagements, it is our strong view that this can be achieved in a much more economical manner. The municipality through the speaker’s office has various existing and funded methods of community engagements and participation.

These include community councillor report-back meetings, war rooms, ward committee meetings and stakeholder engagements and the mayor can easily be part of these efforts. In fact, if the city was working as it should, the mayor would not even need millions of rand to address residents on service delivery.

Efforts to have an exclusive multimillion engagement session by Kaunda are simply self-aggrandising, propagandist and a complete waste of much-needed taxpayers’ money.

We also view this as just desperate efforts to try to mobilise communities behind the ANC before the crucial 2024 provincial and national elections.

To make matters worse, it has been said that many government izimbizos lack authenticity as a tool of public participation as communities do not get to decide where and how they should participate.

Often issues and concerns raised by communities are never addressed or implemented. As a result, people feel marginalised and disempowered by these engagements.

While Mayor Kaunda suddenly wants to be seen to care about the pain and suffering that this city has caused to the residents, the ratepayers and local businesses, the cost of doing this lacks empathy and is simply misguided.

The reality is that the ethekwini ANC and EFF government has been providing substandard service and has allowed the city to collapse under the watch of Kaunda.

The DA will continue to hold the dangerous ANC and EFF government accountable and will fight against efforts to abuse taxpayers’ money. COUNCILLOR MZAMO BILLY | DA ethekwini Deputy Caucus Leader