ActionSA in the City of Ekurhuleni has welcomed news that Ekurhuleni Mayor, Dr Nkosindiphile Xhakaza has fired EFF member of mayoral committee for finance, Nkululeko Dunga who is also Gauteng EFF chairperson.
“ActionSA maintained from the start that the inclusion of the EFF into the mayoral committee had hampered service delivery, delivered our first negative audit outcome in years and slowed down progress towards insourcing. Councillor Dunga, who is also the EFF provincial chairperson, garnered several controversies during his term of office,” said Siyanda Makhubo, ActionSA City of Ekurhuleni caucus leader.
“His term will be remembered for the controversial R2 billion security guard tender, the infamous blue light crash where a resident lost their life, the auditor general releasing a negative audit with serious findings against his department and recently his inability to get the budget passed in council.
“Mayor Xhakaza should never have brought Councillor Dunga back into the mayoral committee at all after the removal of the puppet mayor Sivuyile Ngodwana, which is a clear example where party politics has been placed above the needs of residents in Ekurhuleni,” he said.
ActionSA added that the ANC cannot distance itself from Dunga’s “disastrous” term in office.
“It is clear that Panyaza Lesufi’s meddling into local politics in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni is finally beginning to take its toll, with Xhakaza clearly acting alone. We support Xhakaza’s defiance of Lesufi and encourage him to get the budget approved tomorrow and take heed of our recommendations. It is important that party politics be put aside, as the city remains at risk of being placed under administration should the budget not pass by the end of June,” said Makhubo.
He said the ActionSA will remain a “constructive” opposition in the City of Ekurhuleni.
“We urge Xhakaza to remove the remaining EFF MMCs from their important service delivery portfolios as soon as possible to get service delivery moving again in the city,” said Makhubo.
Earlier on Thursday, IOL reported that the decision to fire Dunga, detailed in a press release issued by the Ekurhuleni mayor's office on Wednesday, marks a pivotal change in the city’s leadership.
According to the official statement, the decision to remove MMC Dunga came after "careful consideration and in light of unforeseen misalignments“.
The mayor emphasised that this change was necessary to ensure the effective handling of the city’s finances, particularly the approval of the annual budget, which is crucial for Ekurhuleni's ongoing development and growth.
“We appreciate MMC Dunga’s contribution and wish him well in his future endeavours. However, the critical need to urgently turnaround the concerning financial position of the city has driven us to make this difficult decision," Xhakaza stated in the release.
IOL