By Celani Sikhakhane
One of former president Jacob Zuma’s biggest allies, Visvin Reddy, has broken his promise to vote to unseat the ANC from power in eThekwini.
Reddy, who is the leader and eThekwini metro councillor for the African Democratic for Change party (Adec), angered the DA when he joined other smaller parties in the council that decided to abstain from the voting process on Wednesday.
The motion to remove ANC mayor Mxolisi Kaunda was tabled by the IFP in November.
About 98 councillors voted to remove Kaunda but 109 voted to save him.
The DA caucus leader in eThekwini, Thabani Mthethwa, said Reddy and councillors from the other smaller parties should be ashamed for betraying the fight to better the lives of eThekwini citizens.
“We are utterly appalled by political parties that chose to vote against an opportunity to fire an incompetent ANC mayor … through a vote of no confidence motion tabled in today’s council meeting.
“These parties are Adec of Visvin Reddy, ACC of Imtiaz Syed, ABC of PG Mavundla, ATM, Al Jama-Ah, Mosa, NFP and MF, which chose to abstain,” Mthethwa said.
He said the DA believed that when Kaunda took over the reins of eThekwini in 2019, he made things worse for the city.
In his response, Kaunda said the ANC was trying hard to address the challenges facing the citizens of eThekwini.
“There are councillors [those who voted for his removal] who are failing their communities but we cannot go out in the media and criticise them,” Kaunda said. “As we speak, we are addressing the issue of water crises in southern areas of the city.
“We are also working hard to fix the issue of water shortages in areas such as Phoenix, Ntuzuma, Verulam, KwaNyuswa, KwaMakhutha, Cornubia, Umhlanga and other areas.”
Reddy couldn’t be reached for comment.
Pictured above: Former president Jacob Zuma and his biggest ally Visvin Reddy, who did not vote as promised to remove the ANC mayor in eThekwini from power.
Image source: X
