EDITOR – At the meeting of the eThekwini Municipality Finance Committee on Thursday, 14 April, the issue of businesses in debt to the municipality for rates and services was raised by the DA.
There was an ‘in committee’ (confidential and for councillors only) special committee meeting held during March, when a presentation was given on the top 150 business in debt with the city.
During the meeting, it was noted by the DA councillors on the committee that there were no confidential minutes of that meeting and there was also no confidential documentation to accompany the presentation that was held in March.
The response from both the CFO, Krish Kumar, and the representative for the legal department, was that they cannot give councillors that information because it was confidential and they do not want it getting to the press or the public.
“As a councillor in the city council, representing the residents of Ward 10, I am personally offended by that statement. As councillors, we are well aware that everything discussed in an ‘in-committee’ meeting is confidential. Why is it that officials are considered more responsible than councillors, when did that start? Officials are privy to that information, but not councillors.
“As councillors we represent the residents who elected us and they have a right, through us, to know this information. How do we perform our oversight role if we are not provided with the information? On the organogram, officials, including the city manager, are below councillors, but they think they are running this city and we are here to just rubber stamp anything that is put in front of us. It is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. That is why this city is in the mess that it is. Residents should be very angry about this,” said DA committee member, Cllr Rick Crouch, in response,
Cllr Rick Crouch
eThekwini Municipality – Ward 10
