OPINION - Just where is eThekwini’s first citizen while Covid-19 wreaks havoc in the city? Ethekwini is literally a mess.
There is dirt, filth and uncollected rubbish everywhere. The city stinks. The odour is the same as when Mxolisi Kaunda and his counterparts used DSW to oust ex-mayor Zandile Gumede
Bins are not picked up, dump sites are closed. How can dumps be closed when they are used if there are many bin bags or the waste collection cycle is missed?
Will the municipality blindly sign off DSW overtime post-lockdown, whose hours staff will claim as they clean the mess around the dump sites?
Where is Kaunda to brief the DSW unit on how to go about a comprehensive cleaning and sanitising spree throughout the city?
Durban’s overpopulated informal settlements, many without basic services, are a ticking time bomb.
The Human Settlements Minister has instructed officials about how informal settlements are to be managed during the Covid-19 outbreak, but just where is Kaunda carrying out her instructions?
He cannot be found on the ground, nor in the media.
Other mayors, such as Johannesburg mayor Geoff Makhubo and Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina are out and about in their communities at the coalface of the Covid-19 virus.
There is news, visuals and articles about them across media platforms but absolutely nothing about mayor Kaunda.
All this in the wake of the CFO, Krish Kumar, going on record that “the municipality could run out of money in two months”.
What absolute non-existent political leadership from the comrade deployed as mayor of eThekwini.
One wonders what the ANC and its leadership think about an absent Kaunda.
Will he get off with just a mere slap on the wrist due to his factional links, or will Kaunda pay the price post the ANC eThekwini regional conference, rumoured to be Gumede’s return.
Thando Dlomo Durban