By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
eThekwini Municipality Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has vehemently denied directing municipal resources to support activations for the newly formed Umkhonto weSizwe party.
“It is alleged that Kaunda has directed the city’s resources to Jacob Zuma’s aligned MK Party’s activation events around Durban. Is Kaunda deliberately sabotaging the ANC in Durban? “the user claimed.
Mayoral spokesperson Mluleki Mntungwa said the allegations are an attempt to tarnish Kaunda’s image.
“It is common knowledge that Mayor Kaunda serves as the Mayor of eThekwini Municipality at the behest of the ANC. Therefore, as a disciplined member of the ANC and an accountable public representative, Mayor Kaunda will never divert public resources for an agenda that is unknown to him and the council.”
Mntungwa said the eThekwini Municipality “continues to obtain an unqualified audit opinion from the Auditor-General.”
“Contrary to what is alleged by Goolam on social media that eThekwini Municipality is in financial distress, as at 30 November 2023, the City had cash on hand of R7,6 billion with days cash on hand of 61 days. The days cash on hand is within the National Treasury Norm of 30-90 days.
“The City’s liquidity indicators have remained healthy with the current ratio of 1,56 times as at 31 October 2023, which is within the National Treasury norm of between 1,5 – 2,0 times, “Mntungwa said.
ActionSA’s Alan Beesley, a member of the city’s council, recently claimed R275m had been spent on Moses Mabhida Stadium (MMS) in the financial year that ended in June. He said the stadium only made a total revenue of R47m, meaning it accrued an operational loss of R228m.
Beesley added that this year’s budget reflected a further R213m loss.
Mntungwa said that was neither factual nor stated with the necessary context. He said the stadium, along with five other community stadiums, are integrated under the municipality as a business unit, so all its operating and capital budget requirements are funded by the city, while the revenue it generates annually forms part of the city’s income.
He said there was an annual asset depreciation of more than R133m in relation to R3.1bn invested in the stadium’s construction in 2010.
“Each financial year, depreciation is budgeted for and therefore cannot be deemed to be a financial loss, “he said.
City manager Musa Mbhele added that the municipality would continue spending on the stadium because it was among the few in the country entrusted with big events and is a major tourist attraction.
“We have already done our reprioritisation of the budget and approved an allocation towards that for the next three years. We have even brought in an international contractor that was contracted to build the stadium in the first place to come and deal with the critical features of the stadium, “he said.
Meanwhile Zuma has warned new uMkhonto Wesizwe members that if they have joined the party for positions, they were in the wrong place.
Zuma was addressing residents at Heroes Acre in Imbali, where he visited the graves of struggle stalwarts Moses Mabhida and Johny Makhathini.
His visit was a part of celebrating Moses Mabhida’s centenary.
Commenting on his recent announcement that he is going to vote for the newly formed political party uMkhonto Wesizwe, Zuma said this is because the ANC has “gotten out of hand” and is not the same party it used to be.
He said he realised that if he does not fix the ANC’s issues, the late leaders will “send him to hell for failing to protect it”.
“The MK party is not a joke, and it is not fake. It is serious. We want black people to be free the same way our leaders would have wanted it,” he said.
He further urged the members not to rush into creating structures within the party, foreseeing that many people will be eyeing positions and wanting to become councillors.
“We need to have discipline and respect others so that we can also be respected. We must not think that we are better than other people.”