Date: 2025-06-25 10:08:11
EXCO Remarks By Ethekwini Municipality Mayor, Cllr Cyril Xaba, 24 June 2025
EXCO Remarks By Ethekwini Municipality Mayor, Cllr Cyril Xaba, 24 June 2025
· Deputy Mayor
· Speaker of Council
· Whip of Council
· Chairpersons of Portfolio Committees
· EXCO members
· City Manager and Senior Management
· Members of the Media
· Ladies and Gentlemen
Good morning,
Let me welcome you all to this EXCO meeting.
I think it is important to reiterate from the outset our commitment to the people of eThekwini to run a clean and accountable administration.
The events of the past two weeks which have seen the Municipality losing some court cases and the potential lawsuit arising from flood damage suffered in 2022 by Toyota Motors, might have created some doubts in the minds of our residents, raising questions whether we are steering this Municipality in the right direction.
These are historical matters, some of them will continue to be with us for some time.
I am planning to meet the Toyota management soon to understand the rationale behind this move.
I am concerned that this case might open a flood gate.
The City can’t afford this.
I am happy that the City Manager has addressed some of the administrative issues at the press conference he convened recently.
As the political head of the institution, I must also assure the members of the public that we are working on tightening internal controls to address these governance issues which paint us in a negative light.
I have said publicly that I am concerned that the City has been losing court cases because of weaknesses emanating solely from poor contract management.
It is against this background that we call upon the management to aggressively re-evaluate its systems with the aim of closing these serious gaps in our contract management environment.
The measures to be adopted include automation of contract management and the appointment of a team of professionals to strengthen controls in this area.
I am happy to report that the item is back on the agenda. The City Manager will present on his plan to address this problem.
Colleagues, this means we must adopt a business unusual approach to address these governance challenges.
Now that the courts have pronounced on some of these cases, we must respect the court decisions and ensure we do everything to implement them.
Section 32(4) of the MFMA provides that the accounting office must promptly inform the Mayor, the MEC for local government and the Auditor-General, in writing, of -
(a) Any unauthorized, irregular or fruitless and wasteful expenditure incurred by the municipality;
(b) Whether any person is responsible or under investigation for such unauthorized, irregular or fruitless and wasteful expenditure; and
(c) The steps that have been taken-
(i) to recover or rectify such expenditure; and
(ii) to prevent a recurrence of such expenditure.
In this regard, if there is any evidence of collusive corruption in these cases, we must deal with it so that the Municipality does not get fleeced of public resources in broad daylight.
This will also restore the confidence of the people to the municipality.
Colleagues, in all our engagements I have been constantly emphasizing the issue of strengthening oversight on performance and accountability.
As the political leadership, we must all be seized with this task not only at EXCO level, even in our portfolio committees.
Lat week, I convened a special EXCO and extended the invitation to the Executive Directors and Directors to receive the report on the expenditure to date.
The capital spend was reported to be below 75%, as at the end of May.
I said to them that this could be a function of two things, the responsible officials not paying creditors and service providers within the prescribed period or marking time for fiscal dumping or both.
I was assured that with the capturing of invoices, the expenditure will show improvement.
I immediately issued an instruction that this information be reduced to writing, indicating who these service providers are, how much they are owed and the age analysis of the invoices and the explanation why creditors have not been paid.
I must confess that I was alarmed at the low levels of spending.
Sustained levels of low capital spending affect the ability to expand basic services to our communities and lead to a decline in customer satisfaction and mistrust.
Low levels of capital spending are not just an indicator of service delivery failure but could also be symptomatic of governance failure.
It impacts negatively on the households and business.
Just to cite one example, in June 2021, Clover took a decision to relocate its cheese processing facility in Lichtenburg in the North-West province to a plant here in Pinetown, because of service delivery challenges relating to water, electricity and poor road infrastructure.
That municipality lost close to 350 jobs.
Unspent funds are illustrative of project management that is more focused on compliance than on responding to need.
It raises questions about our commitment to meeting the constitutional obligations.
It questions the effectiveness of the exercise of oversight by the political leadership.
In this country, money is not a problem, yes, it is not enough because it will never be enough, but the problem is how it is applied.
We have a responsibility to ensure:
(i) that we provide the uninterrupted supply of water for domestic and commercial use and to minimize water losses.
(ii) We reticulate sewage without spillage, and treat and discharge sewage at acceptable quality;
(iii) We provide, repair and maintain bulk infrastructure, such as roads and electricity for domestic and commercial use;
(iv) We provide, upgrade and maintain a storm water system to prevent or mitigate damage to property during heavy downpours;
(v) We manage and dispose of solid waste in an organized and environmentally sustainable manner.
(vi) We cut the verge, clean and streets, bury potholes and keep our streetlights on.
These will require effective, economical and efficient spending of the available resources.
The national government has introduced a concept of the District Development Model to improve coherence and impact of service delivery.
All of those are welcomed initiatives but they deliver results when you have officials who are committed to making that happen, when you have a functional governance system.
These are officials who spend resources allocated to them to extend services to our people, they don’t become a hinderance.
I want all those officials who are a hinderance named and shamed.
In the new financial year, we will turn to procurement plans.
Each department will be required to complete their procurement plans by the end of the first quarter.
A clear procurement plan helps the supply chain management processes function better.
The blame game will be the thing of the past as we monitor the implementation of those plans against the allocated budget. It improves the delivery of services.
I am waiting for the presentation on the SDBIP with keen interests.
The report will be available on Thursday morning. The portfolio committees were consulted, and the team is currently considering the input received.
A lot of work has gone in there, to ensure that we produce smart performance indicators that are not only measurable but set us on an upward trajectory in the delivery of service.
We are a City at work.
I am pleased for support the EXCO continues to receive from the City Manager and his senior executives.
I thank you.
Disability Right Awareness Month
