By Celani Sikhakhane
eThekwini Municipality is the only Metro in KwaZulu-Natal that has been without a mayor for almost a month, since the recall of Mxolisi Kaunda.
Kaunda was recalled after many failed attempts to remove him as he was accused of running the City of eThekwini into the ground.
Since his removal by the ANC, the City has been an orphan without a political head.
The ANC has proposed three names to be interviewed by its national office before a successful candidate can be deployed in eThekwini.
Those names are that of former Agriculture KZN MEC Cyril Xaba, former KZN Premier Nomusa maDube-Ncube and outgoing Police Minister Bheki Cele.
Last week at the council meeting, political parties expected the election of a mayor but it didn’t happen.
ActionSA caucus leader in the eThekwini metro, Zwakele Mncwango accused the ANC of failing to elect a mayor because it said the party is waiting for DA federal chair Helen Zille to give them the green light on who should be made mayor.
“It is now clear that Helen Zille is the one who is running the show and is holding the ANC by the scrotum. They can’t do anything as we can see even at national level. That is why they are unable to decide on the eThekwini mayor,” Mncwango said.
ANC eThekwini spokesperson Mlondolozi Mkhize rejected Mncwango’s claims and said the matter of the mayor was not on the agenda of the last meeting because it was already set when Kaunda left the City.
“The matter was not part of last week’s agenda. That is why it was never discussed at the council meeting because from the beginning it was never meant to be part of the issues of that day. Mncwango must stop misleading people. Another thing is that the City is not running against any timeline to elect a Mayor,” said Mkhize.
He added that they will only follow the advice of the party’s national leadership over the election of the mayor
and rejected claims that they are being controlled by Zille.
Pictured Above: DA federal leader Helen Zille.
Image source: X
