After ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula blasted Msunduzi Municipality for spending millions on sponsoring a PSL soccer team, the party’s provincial leadership remain in support of their decision.

Msunduzi recently approved a R27m three-year sponsorship deal with PSL soccer team Royal AM, which was met with criticism from opposition parties and Msunduzi ratepayers.

The sponsor followed the relegation of Maritzburg United to the second division, leading to the city withdrawing its sponsorship according to the contractual agreement that the club should remain in the elite division for the duration of the three-year period.

Speaking at a local government interventions workshop in Birchwood, Benoni, recently, Mbalula reportedly expressed concern about the manner in which ANC-led local governments used state resources to sponsor soccer teams and build statues while people are suffering.

He reportedly questioned why local governments use state resources wastefully, specifically referring to Msunduzi Municipality’s Royal AM sponsorship despite residents’ complaints about their living conditions.

He emphasised the need for accountability and proper resource management in municipalities and reportedly said that the intervention workshop was aimed to address mismanagement in the ANC’s governance.

Standing by their decision

ANC KZN spokesperson Mafika Mndebele said their view (on the matter) issimple, and that is to prioritise programmes that foster development.

“Social cohesion programmes as well as sport are equally important. For the preservation of our history, it is equally important to erect statues. It will be disingenuous to see the carrying out of these programmes as expensive. At the legislature, there is a statue of Queen Elizabeth but you media people are not questioning it [or its cost].

“King Zwelithini has reigned as head of the Zulu nation for many years and it is imperative to have his statue erected to preserve the Zulu culture,” said Mndebele.

Sponsorship an ‘idiotic decision’

The Msunduzi Association of Residents, Ratepayers and Civics (Marrc) has called on Mbalula to ‘put pressure’ on his ‘colleagues’ to withdraw the sponsorship.

The association has been against the sponsorship, calling for the money to be spent on improving services around the city instead.

The DA’s Ross Strachan said: “It is now abundantly clear that this decision was taken to benefit individuals, as even ANC’s secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has now made his opinion well-known by slandering this idiotic decision in a recent press release.”

He said they have written to the ministerial representative, Martin Sithole, for his immediate attention to and investigation into the sponsorship.

The ACDP’s Rienus Niemand has called for Msunduzi’s leadership to get their priorities right.

Niemand said that Msunduzi was under administration, with no cash to do operational work, and spending R27m on the soccer club made no sense.