Mavund la cracks whip on city managers
ETHEKWINI’S deputy mayor, Philani Mavundla, has dispelled rumours he has fallen out of favour with ANC councillors, saying city officials need to understand his management style.
Mavundla, president of Abantu Botho Congress, won the deputy mayor position after helping the ANC to regain control of the metro.
He also demanded that he be made chairperson of the human settlements and infrastructure committee.
However, Mavundla has become something of a thorn in the side of the ANC leadership with his demands and threats to pull out of the deal if they disagreed with him.
Senior city officials have apparently “had enough of him” because of his management style.
Speaking to the media this week, Mavundla said minor issues had nothing to do with politicians and it was only officials who had issues with his management style.
He said he had created a Whatsapp group where he reported all issues pertaining to human settlements and infrastructure that needed to be attended to.
But senior officials regard his initiative as more of a political stunt than one aimed at improving service delivery. Some officials have ignored his messages, while others have asked
him to take action himself, saying he is also part of the municipality.
Mavundla said that when he found uncollected garbage or leaking pipes, he took a photograph of the problem and called on the relevant managers to attend to it within certain time frames.
“We have different styles of managing the job. I’m trained as a manager, and my management style may be different from that of others, but I know it has worked for me.
“Every day I drive to different areas and I report (my findings) on the group and ask for action (to be taken) should I find something wrong. If I find uncollected garbage or leaking water pipes, I take a picture and ask the relevant manager to fix the problem. If it is there the next day, heads must roll. I want to see action, not talk. Why does it take weeks to fix a power failure?” Mavundla asked.
While Mavundla said he had not signed any coalition agreement with the ANC, he maintained he was still on good terms with the party’s leaders.
“Our relationship is still intact as long as we agree that people must be served. The officials will get used to my management style. If we want to be a functional municipality, we must do things on time.
“It is unacceptable that if you are a head of a unit you do not know the challenges in that unit. I want managers to do their jobs. They cannot just stay in their offices. Municipality work requires us to go out into the field.
“I’m also a ratepayer in Durban and I want to be serviced for that. The officials are getting paid to deliver the services, and it is in their key performance indicators that they should not be told to do their work,” he said.
Asked if his management tactics were an attempt to upstage ethekwini’s mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, for political gain, Mavundla dismissed the claim.
“I’m not doing anybody a favour. I’m doing what I am supposed to do as deputy mayor and chair of the committee. The ANC, including the mayor, have not addressed me about any issues with my management style.
“The staff will get used to how we want things done. In fact, they’ll be happy because (my management style) will ease the backlog; they’ll find everything easy.”