Dolphin Coast Residents & Ratepayers Association chairman Deon Viljoen’s open letter to Cogta MEC, Rev Thulasizwe Buthelezi:

We write to you today as a collective of concerned civil society organisations, representing over 30 000 households on the Dolphin Coast and wider KwaDukuza.

For nearly two months, our municipality has been in a state of paralysis due to the ongoing vacancies on the executive committee of council.

On 30 August, a spokesperson from the ruling party announced that Cllr Lindi Nhaca was being recalled as mayor, however, no official communication has been sent to the municipal manager in this regard.

Almost a month later on 28 September, it was announced that Cllr Nhaca’s party membership was suspended. Yesterday, she was removed from her position as mayor by a motion of no confidence at the council meeting.

We now sit with two vacant seats on the executive committee, that of the mayor and the deputy mayor, the latter that has been vacant for over a year.

In the meantime, the needs and rights of the community go unanswered and ignored. Correspondence, petitions, and PAIA applications are met with no reply.

Commitments to open door policies, feedback, and responding to specific issues are ignored, eroding any expectation of transparency and trust with the community.

Ward committees in KwaDukuza are largely dysfunctional, with few exceptions. Monthly meetings rarely occur, and when they do, they often devolve into political party gatherings.

The lack of oversight enables fabricated minutes and reports, while public meetings are frequently cancelled or used as political platforms.

Perhaps most grave however, is that our municipality is failing to meet its legislative requirements regarding public participation in the IDP process.

Imbizos were originally scheduled to take place from 8 October to 6 November for the 15 unique clusters and stakeholder groups.

On 15 October, those imbizos were indefinitely suspended with no reason or explanation. The municipality must give 14 days’ notice to the community before an imbizo and allow 21 days after for consultation with their respective constituencies.

As the IDP must be presented to council by the end of November, this does not leave adequate time for community engagement and is in violation of Chapter 4 of the Municipal Systems Act, section 16.

We are, therefore, requesting provincial intervention under Section 139 of the Constitution to bring this paralysis to an end, and restore leadership and oversight in KwaDukuza.

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