THREE THOUSAND jobs lost as Mxolisi Kaunda’s reign teeters

Taking over from Zandile Gumede as the mayor of eThekwini, Mxolisi Kaunda promised to be a change the city needed to turn things around. 

In August 2019, eThekwini Municipality’s administration underwent a shake-up following Gumede’s forced leave of absence after her arrest on suspicion of fraud and corruption in the Durban Solid Waste tender saga.

However, Kaunda’s reign has been a far cry from what was expected. The mayor had to deal with Covid-19 in his first full year, in 2021, he had to navigate the aftermath of the July Unrest, as well as the issue of infrastructural vandalism which culminated in the e-coli debacle at the end of 2022. In between all this, political killings had ravaged KwaZulu-Natal, with 155 murders reported since 2018. 

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The eThekwini  Municipality apologises for 3541 terminated PEP contracts

Earlier this week, the city sent a communique citing intention to terminate the Public Employment Programme (PEP) which is part of the Presidential Stimulus Package. 

In a statement, the municipality said, “With the Public Employment Programme in its third and final year of implementation, the budget for 2023/24 financial year was revised by National Treasury from the originally gazetted R263 million to R141 million. This significantly affected the Municipality’s ability to retain the majority of beneficiaries.”

“This is indeed a very disappointing development that is beyond the Municipality’s control.”

Democratic Alliance’s Caucus Leader in eThekwini, Thabani Mthethwa says the municipality has long shown it has no care for the people. 

“eThekwini Municipality has gambled with people’s livelihoods mismanaging the PEP initiative grant but it speaks to the uncaring nature of the ANC,” said Mthethwa. 

Mthethwa believes the state of affairs in the city are even worse now under Kaunda. 

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“Mayor Kaunda should be judged as someone who is in denial and removed from the sad lived realities of the people of eThekwini. Service delivery is at an all time low but the Mayor seems to think that it is business as usual. While he came with an expectation to “fix” the city, he has however become a costly liability to the economy and lives of the people of the city.”

“Overall the situation in eThekwini is worse than it was before the current mayor Kaunda took office,” said Mthethwa. 

Political commentator, Dr. Metji Makgoba, blames the lack of economic improvement on political turmoil. 

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“There is no willingness to build state capacity in South Africa, eThekwini included. There has never been an attempt to reverse the gains of apartheid, first because of the tender system, the neo-liberal ethos of governance which favours corporations, and the constantation of resources which stifles the agenda of change,” said Makgoba. 

Makgoba says these contenstations have resulted in the provision of service delivery constrained.  

“The mayor found these issues, and has been unable to get rid of the contest, with flooding and other factors playing a part in the mishandling of eThekwini’s purse, where councillors kill to access resources,” says Makgoba. 

With the discontinuation of the PEP grant, it is unclear how the municipality plans to execute its 2022/23 Mid-term Budget goals with billions earmarked to improve infrastructure.

Kaunda said, “R49.7 billion is made up mainly of R18.7 billion for Electricity, R12 billion for Water and Sanitation, R6.5 billion for Community and Emergency Services, R2.6 billion for Cleansing and Solid Waste, and R2.5 billion for Roads and Engineering.”