Councillor Thys Janse van Rensburg (DA uThukela chairperson) has called for the suspension of the uThukela municipal manager.

The DA in uThukela District Municipality today (March 20) formally filed a Notice of Motion, demanding the immediate suspension of Municipal Manager Mr LS Jili.

The motion

In the motion, they say the municipal manager has a clear and damning record of repeated financial misconduct and gross dereliction of duty as the municipality’s accounting officer.

This includes:
* Secretly entering a R137-million High Court consent order with RASP Consultants without any council approval;
* Failing to pay the R3-million instalment, despite sufficient monies sitting in the bank, triggering R31 million in punitive interest;
* Lying twice to council in official reports, deliberately understating emergency loans routed through the UEDA account; and
* Consistently refusing to answer legitimate questions from councillors.

Failures

“These failures have directly caused the freezing of our bank accounts, placed salaries and creditors at risk, and plunged basic service delivery into collapse,” says Janse van Rensburg.

“uThukela residents, in both urban and rural communities, are suffering daily with dry taps, burst pipes, unreliable water supply, and factories such as Dunlop forced to halt production. As the DA, we cannot and will not allow this to continue,” he adds.

Appeal to fellow councillors

“We therefore extend a sincere and urgent invitation to every councillor, regardless of political party, to come together at the March 27, 2026, council meeting and support this motion.”

He adds that it is not about party politics, but about justice, accountability and the basic rights of the people all over uThukela that they represent. “Together, we can put an end to the suffering and restore proper governance.”

No more ‘virtual’ meetings, says minister

“On Thursday, the DA also wrote to Speaker TY Nqubuka, demanding that the ordinary council meeting scheduled for March 27 be held in person, and be fully open to the public and the media. This follows the clear commitment given by Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa, during his recent visit, that closed ‘virtual’ meetings are now a thing of the past. Should the speaker refuse to comply, we will have no hesitation in escalating the matter to the MEC.”

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