26 February 2010

The IFP has come out in support of the striking employees of the embattled Msunduzi Municipality who are demanding the dissolution of its Executive Committee and the sacking of Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo. 

"The ineptitude of the Msunduzi Municipality has reached new heights with the revelations that the municipal debt has ballooned close to R600-million. The time has come for the heads of those responsible to roll," said IFP KwaZulu-Natal public accounts spokesperson Dr Lionel Mtshali. 

The IFP has called for the sacking of both Hlatshwayo and Municipal Manager Rob Haswell ever since the infighting between the elected officials and top bureaucrats on the one hand and between different factions of the ANC on the other became known to paralyse the work of the council.

"The once prosperous city of Pietermaritzburg is now on the verge of bankruptcy as its overdraft and uncollected debt rise to unprecedented levels and as municipal services to residents grind to a halt," said Dr Mtshali. 

The IFP hopes that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Co-operative Governance will now step up its intervention in the municipality in line with section 139 of the Constitution that allows the provincial government to take over municipalities. 

"The department has recently intervened in three IFP-run municipalities because of their lack of co-operation with departmental officials. The Msunduzi Municipality's defiance of the department's Task Team in our mind constitutes grounds for a similar intervention in this council," said Dr Mtshali.
 

Contact:
Dr Lionel Mtshali
078 302 0929