Mayor lambasts rumourmongers

ETHEKWINI Mayor Zandile Gumede has lambasted the persons/s responsible for spreading false allegations that she has bought a new mayoral fleet and that her office is undergoing renovations.

In a special meeting of Exco on Tuesday, Gumede said she had mandated the council Speaker, William Mapena to investigate who the people are behind the spreading of the false allegations and bring them to book.

“I want justice and for my name to be cleared. I want people who are responsible for spreading these lies to explain where they are sourcing these untrue statements from and necessary action be

taken against the paddlers of these untrue rumours,” she said.

Gumede urged people to follow proper channels and obtain the facts instead of spreading malicious lies.

She said malicious reports impacted negatively on the newly elected council leadership and the entire municipality. “It erases all the good work that has been done to achieve a clean audit report,” she said.

At the meeting Gumede also mandated Deputy City Manager for Governance and Human Resources Cluster, Sipho Cele and Speaker William Mapena to establish ward committees in all 110 Municipal wards.

“These must be up and running by the end of November this year as Ward Committees play a big role in identifying the needs of our people in each ward so that we are able to implement interventions in response to those

needs,” she said.

Ward Committees in every ward conduct meetings to address the challenges that face their respective wards. Ward Councillors are accountable and held responsible by the Office of the Speaker.