Durban -A text message allegedly from the mayor of eThekwini Municipality, Mxolisi Kaunda, taking his deputy, Philani Mavundla, to task for undermining him, has laid bare the purportedly strained relationship between the two men at the helm of the city’s political leadership.
In the text message, written in Zulu, Kaunda criticises Mavundla for putting a picture of himself on a municipal poster instead of one of the mayor. The poster promoted a clean-up campaign the city recently undertook with the Premier Soccer League football club, Kaizer Chiefs.
When The Mercury contacted Mavundla for comment, the deputy mayor did not deny the authenticity of the message, but said, “We will not comment on this matter.”
Asked about his relationship with Kaunda, he said, “I came to this city to help service the city’s residents and grow ABC (Abantu Batho Congress). I did not come to this job because I was starving and was looking for food for my children. We have cabbages (food) at home. So anything outside that does not interest me.”
The office of the mayor directed questions on the matter to the municipal spokesperson, Msawakhe Mayisela, who dismissed the message as the work of rogue elements looking to sow divisions. “They work well as dictated by protocols that govern this sphere of government. As a result, the mayor views this message as nothing but a desperate attempt by some rogues to distract them from their responsibilities of meeting the needs of the city’s stakeholders.”
Translated, the text message says: “I see you (Mavundla) are continuing with the rubbish I warned you about. You do not listen, you could have done this with the mayor’s picture (in the poster).
“You are a deputy only and you must learn to accept that, and learn to humble yourself. This nonsense you are doing in eThekwini, you did not do when you were the mayor in Umvoti, but you are doing it in eThekwini.
“Learn to humble yourself and accept to be led, you cannot be a mayor with just two seats, accept that.”
The message goes on to tell Mavundla, “if you want to continue being the deputy mayor and (you do not want us) to sanction you under the code of conduct, remove that ‘nonsense’ (picture) next to the municipal logo”.
He then warns that failure to do so would result in him being disciplined.
For months, there have been reports of tensions between the two men.
During a summit on township economic development in Inanda recently, Kaunda said: “There are chairpersons of committees running around posting on social media that there is a broken pipe there, they have been to see it and forget that it is their job to fix it.”
Mavundla had taken to social media about issues affecting the city.
Before that, the two men faced off over the unveiling of a new Durban Solid Waste truck, after Mavundla put out an announcement that the new trucks would be unveiled. He was allegedly scolded by the mayor for overstepping his authority and the trucks were later unveiled by Kaunda.