ETHEKWINI NEWSFLASH

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

17 JANUARY 2023

 

MAYOR KAUNDA DENIES SUNDAY TIMES CLAIMS AS FALSE, THAT HE WENT ON HOLIDAY IN CAPE TOWN WHILE ETHEKWINI WAS GRAPPLING WITH SEWER SPILLAGES 

 

EThekwini Municipality Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda has described a Sunday Times newspaper report that he went on holiday in Cape Town while the City was dealing with sewer spillages as malicious and aimed at damaging his character.

 

“While I respect media freedom and journalistic creativity designed for interesting reading, I vehemently object to deliberately misleading the public in the name of satire. This is tantamount to abuse of power by the media as they influence public discourse,” Mayor Kaunda said.

 

In the Sunday Times of 15 January, Hogarth claimed that: “Kaunda went on holiday without a care in the world – in Cape Town”.  

 

Mayor Kaunda added that although the Mother City is blessed with natural beauty like most of our beautiful country, he never set foot in Cape Town during the festive season as claimed.

 

“For a newspaper to print factually incorrect reports suggests that both Hogarth and the Sunday Times are influenced by a certain bias and are pushing a political agenda. The same Hogarth said I was booked for gigs in December, which was false.”

 

“It seems the only purpose these reports serve is to paint me as an uncaring and out of touch public representative,” Mayor Kaunda said.

 

Mayor Kaunda added that satire cannot be used to mask deliberate peddling of lies and spreading of misinformation.  

 

The Mayor is demanding a public retraction and a correction of these lies by the Sunday Times.

 

The Mayor is taking these allegations seriously and is demanding a retraction to all those who have paddled these lies including Action SA Leader in KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Zwakele Mncwango.  

 

ENDS

 

Issued by eThekwini Municipality Communications Unit. For more information, kindly contact Mayoral Spokesperson Mluleki Mntungwa on 060 974 1140.