I AM pleased to report on the significant strides made to enhance service delivery during my first 100 days in office. It would be remiss of me not to extend my profound gratitude to all political parties that are represented in Council for continuing to work together in the interest of the people of eThekwini. It is through this cooperation that eThekwini continues to be politically stable.  The overall financial situation of the Municipality remains sound and healthy. This is demonstrated by the fact that we are one of the few municipalities that does not owe Eskom.

We continue to meet our monthly obligations for bulk water purchases from Umngeni/uThukela Water. Furthermore, the City has a proud record of obtaining unqualified audit opinion from the Auditor-General. It is important to mention that our efforts to stabilise the City, accelerate service delivery, and fight fraud and corruption are beginning to show positive results. We are encouraged by the recently released Business Confidence Index report which indicates that business confidence in the City has increased for the second consecutive quarter.

The report highlights a remarkable increase of 61.01 percent in the third quarter, up from 55.49 in the second quarter. We believe our interventions are finding resonance with our social partners as they create a positive investor climate. In September we launched the spring-cleaning campaign to encourage residents to keep the City clean and to preserve the environment.  To improve waste management, we are increasing the capacity of the Cleansing and Solid Waste Unit by procuring new fleet and upgrading and rehabilitating landfill sites. However, we want to reiterate that keeping the City clean is a collective responsibility. We are also pleased that our efforts to rejuvenate the inner-city are being recognised. We recently met with both the Minister and the MEC for Public Works and Infrastructure who have made a commitment to work with us to eradicate problem buildings in the City, particularly those that are owned by the state.

We are currently formalising a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, and a report has been tabled for Council to take this matter forward.  And finally, I would like to provide an update on the 2022 floods. When the City finalised the relocation of 2022 flood victims from 110 mass care centres to family friendly accommodation, it committed to identify sites for the building of permanent houses. We are pleased to report that the City has finalised this process and planning approvals have been granted for six sites which can accommodate all families that are currently accommodated in Temporary Emergency Accommodation in eThekwini. The sites are shovel-ready for the province to commence with the building of permanent structures.