THE fourth Mayor of the City of uMhlathuze was officially invested at a special council sitting at the Richards Bay Civic Centre last night.
Humbly receiving the chain of office before a packed public gallery, Cllr Mduduzi Gift Mhlongo took over the top leadership seat previously occupied by Cllrs Denny Moffatt, Zakhele Mnqayi and Elphas Mbatha.
The latter’s resignation, tabled at the meeting, opened the way for Mhlongo to forfeit his post as Speaker to become Mayor.
A minority of councillors demanded to be given the reasons for Mbatha’s resignation, but this was declared to be irrelevant as no reasons had been stated in the letter of resignation.
The election of the new mayor went to the vote after Cllr DA Nxumalo was also nominated as a candidate, but Mhlongo easily won by a majority of 42 votes to 10, with the Democratic Alliance members declining to participate.
With apparent reference to the fall from grace of Mbatha, who is on record as claiming major corruption and other wrongdoings on the part of his political colleagues, Mhlongo in his acceptance speech said this was ‘no signal of a crisis, but merely robust engagement in a strong democracy’.
Mhlongo said service delivery, changing lives for the better and ‘levelling the playing fields for those previously disadvantaged’ would be priorities.
He said tourism would be a key economic driver and gave the assurance residents would witness accelerated service delivery from the city through its clean audits, intact functioning, proven track record and determination to fight any abuse in the system.
At the same meeting, Cllr Mfundo Wisdom Mthenjana was elected to the position of Speaker and as the city’s representative on the uThungulu District Municipality.
In a gesture that endeared him to the hearts of those present, Mthenjana acknowledged and paid tribute to his mother, proudly seated in the public gallery.
