THE Democratic Alliance in eThekwini has called the last minute cancellation of Tuesday morning’s executive committee meeting a show of poor leadership and bad planning.
According to the eThekwini caucus leader, Zwakele Mncwango, members of the executive committee were notified of the cancellation just 45 minutes before the critical meeting in which a damning budget statement report was to be tabled.
He said the email and sms sent to all exco members indicated the meeting was cancelled due to the unavailability of the mayor and city manager. “This email correspondence contradicts what Cllr Nigel Gumede told exco members who were already waiting in the boardroom for the meeting to start. He said the meeting was cancelled as several of the exco members were currently engaged in a local government course and were therefore unavailable for the meeting,” said Mncwango.
“There is a direct link between the poor planning of meetings and the shocking budget statement report. Contained within the exco report, the budget statement speaks of several departments that have grossly underspent their 2012/2013 budgets. The constant underspending of capital budget has a major effect on the capacity of the municipality to successfully provide basic services,” saids Mncwango.
Mncwango said DA exco councillor, Heinz de Boer, who was also on the training course, opted to attend the exco meeting because he understood the importance of oversight and how it could affect service delivery if not managed well.
“We have to start prioritizing and identifying our responsibilities. While training is important, the running of this city should take first priority,” said Mncwango.
He said he would write to the mayor as the chair of exco and raise concerns around poor planning which had led to the last minute cancellation of the crucial meeting.
