By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) announced Gauteng member of Legislature Kingsol Chabalala as their Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) mayoral candidate.
DA made an announcement earlier today in Vanderbijlpark, South of Johannesburg.
The DA Gauteng Provincial Chairperson Fred Nel said, “We believe that Kingsol will be able to lead the DA to a decisive victory in the upcoming local government election in Emfuleni, and once elected to office, we know that he will bring the DA’s signature of good, clean and effective governance to a municipality that currently struggles from crisis to crisis.”
“Kingsol has the DA’s full backing, and we look forward to turning Emfuleni around for each one of its residents, said Nel.”
In his acceptance speech Chabalala said that the time for change is now and that the people have grown impatient with the ruling party. “The people of Emfuleni have been forgotten by the ANC and this is why I stand here today. To say to my parents and my fellow community members that change is possible.”
“I have served the people of Emfuleni as a DA activist, councillor and Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature and believe that I know the community well enough to serve them as a mayor who will put their needs first. In my years as an activist, councillor and MPL for Emfuleni, I have witnessed first-hand the pain and misery on the faces of the majority of Emfuleni residents who have been betrayed by the ANC government and who still live in squalor like they did before 1994.”
Chabalala first got involved in politics during his high school days in 1993 through to university as a member of SASCO. He joined DA in 2008, he is the current DA Deputy Chairperson in the Vaal Region also PEC member and has been a member of the REC since 2009.
Emfuleni was recently identified by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana as one of 39 municipalities that have persistently failed to pay water boards and other parties such as pension funds, medical aids, SARS, the Auditor-General, and continues to adopt unfunded budgets.
Emfuleni’s problems have been compounded by Rand Water’s decision to attach the municipality’s bank account due to its R1.7-billion unpaid debt. It also owes Eskom R8.5-billion.
Godongwana informed Hlabisa that he would invoke Section 216(2) of the Constitution against the 39 most dysfunctional municipalities for “persistent non-compliance”. This section allows the National Treasury to stop the transfer of funds to an organ of state if it commits a “serious or persistent material breach” of measures designed to ensure transparency and expenditure control.