Durban – Msunduzi municipal manager Lulamile Mapholoba says the KwaZulu-Natal capital city will look differently in the near future, and everyone concerned should be ready to adapt to the changes.
He was briefing city councillors during a special council sitting last week, where he outlined some of the developments that were taking place at the municipality.
These included reviewing the titles of some staff positions, filling key vacancies and ensuring that the municipality was operating more efficiently.
“We expect that this municipality will not be the same after the next determination of municipal boundaries by the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) and so we are preparing for such,” said the city manager at the meeting.
This was in reference to the municipality’s application for a metro status which was made this year.
“We have ticked all the boxes and are confident that in the next cycle the municipality will not look the same, and so it is important to make all the changes in line with the municipality of this size,” he added. If the application to the MDB is successful, Msunduzi will be the second metro council after eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the municipality’s legal division is in need of at least a R2 million cash injection that will enable it to meet its current legal commitments, a report from the legal services has warned. A high number of cases which include civic and labour matters form part of the load by the legal services division.
“The legal fees budget is almost exhausted. An injection of R2m is required at the year end to meet the current commitments which include a hefty invoice of about R700 000 in respect of the defence of urgent litigation against the municipality, pursuant to the cancellation of contracts,” read the report.
According to the city manager, the legal division was merely feeling the effects of inefficient budgeting.