In what would be his final public appearance as eThekwini Municipality mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda held a media briefing at City Hall on Thursday to bid farewell and reflect on his time as mayor of the only metro in KwaZulu-Natal.
Kaunda was recalled on Wednesday evening and redeployed as a new member of the National Council of Provinces. It is not yet clear what role he will play there.
Speaking at City Hall, Kaunda began by expressing his appreciation for his time as mayor. “I want to take this opportunity to thank the African National Congress for the confidence they showed in me and for the support they provided. I would also like to thank the people of eThekwini for working with us in steering the city in the right direction,” said Kaunda.
Kaunda spoke about the challenges he faced since taking office in 2019, including floods, Covid-19, and the period of unrest in 2021, and how he believes the municipality overcame these challenges. He said, “Because of the strong partnership we formed with social partners, we were able to develop an impactful recovery plan following Covid-19, which has become our blueprint to respond to disasters. Subsequently, we came together to formulate a response to the July civil unrest and the recurring floods. As we speak, the city is using the same model to adequately respond to the plight of those affected by the recent tornado.”
Kaunda said one of the key tasks he received from the ANC in 2019 was to stabilize the municipality, strengthen governance, and improve service delivery. He believes he leaves behind an eThekwini that is stable both politically and administratively. He mentioned the inner-city regeneration program, as well as various strategies and developments to attract new investment in the city. He also spoke about measures to deal with crime, including the annual recruitment of 400 metro police officers, the rollout of smart policing initiatives, and the deployment of 300 Urban Precinct Ambassadors to improve safety and cleanliness in the city, counting these as successes.
Regarding service delivery, Kaunda mentioned significant strides made to improve water supply, citing the R1.2 billion Southern Aqueduct project designed to improve water supply to southern areas, a R56 million project to upgrade a pump station in Inanda, and the commissioning of a second Northern Aqueduct pipeline.
The mayor admitted that job creation is an area needing improvement. “We have to acknowledge, however, that we have not done enough in terms of job creation,” said Kaunda.
Speaking on corruption, Kaunda said, “When I took office in 2019, one of the things we aimed to do was root out corruption. Since then, there have been suspensions and individuals who resigned before we could dismiss them. However, the most important intervention is prevention; thus, we have focused on educating about the consequences of corrupt actions.”
Regarding his redeployment to the National Council of Provinces, Kaunda said, “I was informed and consented to it. When I was deployed to the Department of Transport, I accepted it. When I was deployed as mayor of this metro, I accepted it. With this new deployment, I accept it. If in the future I am deployed elsewhere, I will accept it. There is no entitlement in deployment. I am thankful to the ANC for the trust they place in me.”
In response to Kaunda’s redeployment, the opposition political party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), issued a statement welcoming his removal. Cllr Thabani Mthethwa, DA eThekwini Caucus Leader, said, “Today’s news of eThekwini Mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, being fired is welcomed by every single resident of this municipality who has been forced to suffer under his incompetence and absence. This is the man who remained in denial about the true state of the city, which suffers from debilitating water outages, electricity supply issues, failing infrastructure, non-service delivery, excessive billing, high crime levels which have chased away investors, and deadly municipal protests, all while eThekwini drowns in billions of rands of debt.”
The DA has consistently called for Kaunda’s removal and is prepared to engage with other political parties to stabilize eThekwini. Mthethwa added, “We will work with the incoming Provincial Government to ensure the municipality gets back on track to deliver quality services to every resident across the metro.”
