eThekwini ANC wants incompetent city workers to be hung out to dry
One of the party’s senior councillors Nkosenhle Madlala said the ANC cannot continue to be “crucified” because of lazy and incompetent officials.
The ANC in eThekwini is adopting a hard stance against city officials not doing their work saying these officials should be “hung out” to dry and the party cannot continue to be lambasted because of officials not doing their jobs.
One of the party’s senior councillors Nkosenhle Madlala said the ANC cannot continue to be “crucified” because of lazy and incompetent officials.
But opposition parties said the ANC cannot now complain about the poor performance of officials because it is the party that made these officials “untouchable” by involving them in ANC politics.
The city has more than 25 000 workers, but the performance of these workers at all levels has come under scrutiny with mayor Mxolisi Kaunda recently stating that the levels of service delivery on the ground do not line up with the massive workforce the city has.
Speaking during a recent council meeting, Madlala said: “The ANC cannot bear to be (akin to) ‘Jesus’ who is going to be crucified on behalf of the people who do not want to do their work, we are serious about that.”
Madlala, who is an executive committee member and chairs the HR and Governance Portfolio Committee, pointed to the damage and the dysfunction of some of the city pools, saying this was the direct result of city workers not doing their jobs.
“There is the Rachel Finlayson pool, which is not one of the victims of the floods … and has been a problem long before the floods and we have been pouring money into that pool; as the ANC we are not going to take insults from people who are saying we are corrupt and have used public money to enrich ourselves because none of the money that went there (to fix the pool) came to us as the ANC.
“Someone took a decision to empty those pools without consulting any of us as the principals of the municipality. We do not know who (that was) but the city manager must find out and that person must be hung out to dry.”
Madlala said their message was clear – they will pull out all the stops to support officials to deliver services to the people, “but we expect swift and firm action against those who repeatedly under-perform despite the support given”.
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said that the ANC has no grounds to complain pointing out that the party has been defending the officials all along.
He said it was the ANC that had involved the officials in the party’s matters.
“I have been saying that you cannot run a council like this, there are officials that have positions in the ANC.”
DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa agreed that the ANC cannot complain about being blamed because it was the party that protected under-performing city workers and blocked attempts to discipline such officials.
THE MERCURY
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