The Economic Freedom Fighters in KwaZulu- Natal is calling for a vote of no confidence in Msunduzi Municipality Mayor CLLR Mzimkhulu Thebolla, following recent revelations by the municipality’s administrator Mr Sicelo Duma that the municipality has over 100 ‘ghost employees’ on its payroll. It is worth noting that since he assumed position in 2019 and since the municipality was placed under administration two years ago, the embattled municipality which has since been notoriously known for being a playground for corruption has gone from bad to worse.

It is a cause for concern to note that between ducking and diving potholes, long water outages, long electricity outages which are caused by an ageing infrastructure, uncollected refuse, service delivery protests, city parks and cemeteries being in ruins, the municipality has been squeezing its ailing cash flow to pay non existing employees. While we note that the Mayor may have no influence on the municipality’s Human Resources Division, we believe that his lack of oversight has brought the municipality into disarray.

It calls for further scrutiny to note as to why this municipality has planned to spend about R200 million more on hiring external ‘experts’ consultants meanwhile there are people who are employed to do the job. While we call upon the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) to launch an urgent investigation into the municipality’s Human Resources department, we further call upon the department to launch similar investigations and skills audits in all the municipalities of the provinces, as we believe that Msunduzi is not the first and the last municipality to do such. The time for tolerating and caressing corruption must come to an end, and this municipality should be used as an example to show that those who break the law will eventually face the music.

 

Issued by The Economic Freedom Fighters in KwaZulu- Natal