DURBAN - PRESSURE is mounting on the ANC provincial leadership to rethink its decision to nominate Diana Hoorzuk as the eThekwini Municipality’s deputy mayor.
This comes after 18 party councillors allegedly boycotted a meeting that she was to chair. The Finance, Security and Emergency Services committee meeting, which Hoorzuk chairs, was supposed to take place on Friday but was postponed to Monday because it failed to form a quorum after 18 ANC councillors failed to attend. Most did not send apologies or sick leave letters, and their non-attendance was apparently regarded as a statement to the ANC leadership that they did not want Hoorzuk as the deputy mayor.
Last month, Hoorzuk was supposed to be elected as deputy mayor but the meeting collapsed, apparently because ANC councillors were unhappy with her taking the position. Their absence angered opposition councillors who had taken the time to attend the meeting.
The DA issued a statement thereafter expressing its anger over the nonattendance and said it was appalled. The party said it viewed the committee as the most important one as it dealt with finance, security and emergency services, which included metro police and security issues. In a statement, DA councillor Zandile Mkhize said only six of the 24 ANC councillors had attended. She added that only two out of the 18 who did not attend had submitted lawful sick leave notices, and called it a clear political stayaway.
“The committee that Hoorzuk now chairs is the engine of the city as it is responsible for Finance, metro police, Security Management, Disaster Management and Safer Cities. Most of these units are in a shambles and require urgent attention. The collapse of this meeting means these units cannot be held accountable for their transgressions and poor performances, and some projects that the city is seeking to undertake will get delayed. More worryingly, it shows that the ANC is more concerned with petty politicking than it is with crucial service delivery matters,” said Mkhize.
Further, she said the DA was worried because eThekwini Metro residents would bear the brunt of ANC infighting for as long as the ANC had the majority in the council. She called for action against the councillors, and said this was a dismissable offence.
“EThekwini Speaker Weziwe Thusi must urgently intervene and institute disciplinary processes against the responsible councillors. EThekwini residents must see this for what it is – the ANC in total collapse in a fight over power, money and position.”
Thusi told the Daily News on Sunday that she was awaiting the report from Hoorzuk as chairperson, and she would take it from there. Municipality spokesperson Mluleki Mntungwa refused to be drawn into what may have caused the councillors’ apparent boycott, except to say the meeting had been rescheduled for Monday.
However, a councillor who asked not to be named said it was time for the ANC provincial leadership to rethink its decision. A full council meeting where the deputy mayor’s position will be voted for is expected to take place on Thursday.
Daily News