African National Congress Youth League

Moses Mabhida Region

Statement on Developments at uMsunduzi Municipality

08/03/2016

The ANCYL (Moses Mabhida Region) has been observing, with serious concern, developments at u Msunduzi Municipality (see report).

From the mid of 2015, the Municipality has been married with serious political tensions involving council members and some members of the top management team.

This political tension has led to the co-option of EPWP workers and contract workers by those who will stop at nothing to render this strategic municipality – the Capital of KZN ungovernable.

The whole workforce of the municipality has been victims of gross political patronage.

Heading to the last Provincial Conference of the ANC in November 2015, we witnessed serious instigation and unnecessary provocation of EPWP workers, Permanent and Contract Workers of the Municipality.

This was sparked mainly by attempts by the Municipal Manager, Mr Mxolisi Nkosi who has recently been suspended on counts of fraud and corruption and other very senior members of the council who wanted to influence the outcomes of the Conference by buying delegates through Job Placements.

ON JOB PLACEMENT

The ANCYL commend efforts by ANC Council Caucus to defend basic ethics of employment by stopping the bigoted, and unprincipled placement. We call the Council to initiate and oversee another transparent placement process that will be accommodative to all workers and unlock opportunities for all contract workers.

ON EPWP                

We recognise and appreciate efforts by our Government to create programmes such as EPWP aimed at providing poverty and income relief through temporary work for the unemployed during this most difficult economic epoch.

We want to remind workers of u Msunduzi Municipality and the general populace that EPWP program in a National Programme driven by the National Department of Public Works - all Government Departments, Municipalities, State Owned Entities and State Institutions are implementing this program and it is yielding positive results.

The YL therefore debunks the myth that says EPWP is only being implemented at u Msunduzi Municipality and that there is budget available to absorb all EPWP workers – but the Deputy Mayor Comrade Thobani Zuma and Chairperson of HR Portfolio Committee Comrade Jabu Ngubo are refusing with to utilise the budget.

We want to put it on records that all Government Departments, Municipalities, State Owned Entities and State Institutions have no budget allocated to absorb EPWP workers.

So what makes u Msunduzi Municipality so special to have budget allocated to absorb EPWP workers? Why Comrade Thobani and Comrade Jabu are single out as stumbling block in the utilisation of the so called available budget?     

The YL note that, seemingly our Government is carrying a sole burden to create sustainable jobs for our people while the private sector is folding arms watching at distance. We call the private sector to play a noticeable role in complementing Government efforts to create sustainable jobs for our people, the youth in particular and invest in productive economy.

ON THE SUSPENSION OF MUNICIPAL MANAGER –MR MXOLISI NKOSI

The YL welcomes a decision to suspend Mr Mxolisi Nkosi. In the recent past Mr Nkosi became a centre of divisions in the Municipality in a quest to protect his corrupt “Mafia” within the council and top municipal management team.

We commend ANC comrades deployed in the council for their bravery to confront what nearly lead to another collapse of this strategic municipality in KZN.

We whoever take very serious reports that there are some ANC Councillors who boycotted last week council seating in protest of a decision to have Mr Nkosi suspended. We call the ANC to initiate an investigation to all those Councillors and haul them before the Disciplinary Committee.

The ANCYL will engage in an intensive campaign to have all those Councillors who boycott council meetings not retained in the next council as their term of office is ending this year.

Statement issued by Thembinkosi Zondi, ANCYL Moses Mabhida Region Regional Secretary, 8 March 2016