Political parties and ratepayer organisations shared their concern on the excessive expenditure on cultural statues instead of addressing service delivery. These concerns were raised during a Full Council Meeting on Wednesday, 6 November.
Both sets of organisations were replying to the item which referred to the erection of the 1860 Indentured Indian Labourers Monument and also referenced the King Shaka statue, which was recently unveiled. Both statues cost the KZN provincial government R4 million and R4.5 million respectively.
Bluff Ratepayers and Residents Association (BRRA) vice-chairperson Allison Schoeman said the BRRA and eThekwini United Ratepayers Business and Civics Organisation (EURBCO) found it appalling that millions are being funnelled into statues and monuments while residents suffer daily due to neglected infrastructure.
“Properties across eThekwini are flooded with sewage, water disruptions are frequent, and basic services are failing—yet millions are being poured into vanity projects. This blatant disregard for urgent community needs is a slap in the face to every resident who endures these conditions. The city’s priorities seem entirely misplaced, and this wasteful spending only worsens the crisis,” she said.
Schoeman said that ratepayers have suffered due to funds being tied to a project with no tangible benefits and through this, allowing for valuable resources to be wasted. She concluded that the government should focus on addressing service delivery instead if they want to attract tourists to the metro.
Deputy Chairperson of the eThekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement (ERPM) Rose Cortes, said that ratepayers can’t endorse “cosmetic spending.”
She said that there’s an infrastructure crisis and combined with the collapse in vital services, it has led to ecological, environmental and economic damage. “It’s inconceivable that hundreds of millions of our rands are being spent on nice to haves. These things can wait. Moses Mabhida Stadium upgrades can wait. A metropolitan where thousands of people rely on tankers to bring them water every day. A city so full of leaks and bursts and sinkholes needs immediate rehabilitation,” Cortes said.
The Democratic Alliance’s Yogis Govender said that this item speaks to an initiative that started 14 years ago. “There’s no urgency as this is being tossed between provincial and local governments whilst communities suffer. Initially design delays were due to the Indian community’s disagreement, but this was only an issue introduced in 2021. These commemorative events are special yet they are tainted by politics. We keep tossing money so that these projects appear on the agenda. EThekwini and the provincial government need to stop shifting blame and need to be responsible. We support the item and will hold those responsible for finalising this,” Govender said.
She concluded that the Indian community is the largest in the world outside India and that this needs to be addressed urgently.
