EDITOR – On Sunday 17 September Mayor Zandile Gumede called an emergency meeting with ward councillors. The meeting was intended to address the destruction caused by the storm that hit Durban over the weekend and caused widespread damage to property and infrastructure.
However, the Mayor purposefully excluded councillors from opposition parties from this meeting; more especially the 33 ward councillors representing wards where the ANC did not win a majority.
The move by the Mayor shows immaturity, poor leadership and petty political tactics. By excluding opposition councillors the Mayor excluded hundreds of thousands of eThekwini residents from much needed emergency assistance and disaster response.
The move by the Mayor is not only reckless but shows her inability to be a leader in this city. The Mayor is playing with people’s lives in the name of politics. The Mayor put thousands of families and children at risk by excluding all ward councillors.
This is a new low for the ANC and for the Mayor.
#StopEthekwiniCollapse.
Councillor Chris Pappas
Ward 31
