UMHLATHUZE City Mayor Elphas Mbatha has ‘distanced’ himself from claims that he allegedly called on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister Pravin Gordhan to ‘urgently intervene’ at the municipality.
His comments follow media reports last week which detailed a letter reportedly written by the mayor to Minister Gordhan.
According to the correspondence, the Special Investigating Unit was summoned to investigate allegations of corruption relating to tender rigging and the appointment of incompetent employees at the municipality.
However, on Friday Mbatha told the Zululand Observer he could neither ‘deny’ nor ‘confirm’ that there had been any correspondence between him and a minister or any government official.
But opposition parties were quick to respond to the claims, with the National Freedom Party (NFP) stating that ‘corruption’ at the municipality was ‘robbing the community of what it is supposed to get’.
‘We are happy the mayor has confessed that the municipality has failed the people of uMhlathuze,’ said NFP spokesperson of the uMhlathuze constituency, Sabelo Mchunu.
‘He has confessed there is corruption in the City and as the mayor, he is well-placed to know what exactly is happening. What he has said is just the tip of the iceberg as there are many other issues that need to be addressed.
‘We have previously attempted to engage the municipality on these issues of corruption. We have gone to the extent of writing to the Public Protector about it,’ Mchunu said on Friday.
Responsibility
He said the collective leadership needed to take responsibility for the current state of affairs at uMhlathuze.
‘We believe that individuals within the Council are not only to blame. The mayor should also take the blame as he was elected to lead the Council. The ruling party should also take responsibility collectively,’ Mchunu told the Zululand Observer.
The speculation surrounding Minister Gordhan’s intervention at the local municipality comes after the government minister stressed the need to ‘cull dead weight government officials’ last week.
Speaking after a meeting with Premiers and local government associations, Gordhan said competent people should be the ones who occupy key positions at municipalities.
Gordhan said the meeting was part of government’s efforts to deal with inefficiencies at local government level, which were hampering service delivery.
