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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in eThekwini is deeply concerned about a presentation to Tuesday’s EXCO meeting on an Umlazi public meeting about the refuse collection.

The item says a meeting needed to be held to consult with Umlazi residents about the refuse collection and the proposed insourcing, and had a budget of R 1 150 620. Half of this was provided by the provincial government.

The item was approved using the rule of order 28- which negates Council approving- despite a Council meeting being held on the 27th of June. This Council meeting easily could have considered the item as a laid on table matter and got proper approval for it, without the need to circumvent the Council’s processes.

The ANC was unwilling to give information about the item and made vague references to future reports.

When pushed by DA members of the Executive Committee, COO Musa Mbhele admitted that whilst they had targeted between 3000 and 6000 attendees, “less than 3000” people showed up at the meeting on the 29th of June. This means the meeting cost almost R400 per attendee.

At the last census, almost 500 000 people resided in Umlazi. They have all been affected by this refuse collection crisis.

It cannot possibly be the case that the city expected even a third of those residents to actually show up to a public meeting. Instead, only an estimated 0.6% of Umlazi residents were actually engaged.

It is suspicious that a public meeting would be chosen as the method of engagement when it was effectively impossible to communicate with the majority of those affected in this way.

Although the meeting happened at the end of June, there was no prepared report as to what happened and how the money was spent.

The DA finds this item vague, suspicious and concerning. It was not the last minute or emergency matter and did not need to use Rule of Order 28. Similarly, the costs are extraordinarily high.

The DA will write to City Manager Sipho Nzuza and demand a full report in this matter.

The people of Umlazi are in this situation because of ANC corruption and interference in DSW. This kind of poorly planned and dubious event shows complete disregard for their plight.

Issued by The DA