Local coal stockpiling ban in the offing, says Deputy Mayor

Provincial economy succeeds in playing catch-up

August 3, 2026

Dave Savides 2 minutes read

City Deputy Mayor, Cllr Muzi Mtshali and KZN MEC for Finance, Francois Rodgers address residents at a public meeting in Richards Bay

“Politics got us into this mess; politics must get us out.”

Speaking in Richards Bay, that was the blunt message of MEC Francois Rodgers, the man in charge of the provincial treasury, overseeing fiscal stability and the provincial budget.

But he believes significant steps have already been made in repairing the broken economy.

“I took over a province in deep financial distress linked to the fact that we had one party governing the province; now we have four. When you spend money with politics ahead of principle, problems occur.

“The financial woes cascaded down from national, to provincial, to local level. All ran out of money and relied on borrowing. KZN lost R80b in 12 years, and today the country spends R1.2b per day to service national debt. People general don’t think about money until there is none left.”

Time to pay up

But, says Rodgers, there are signs of recovery, bearing in mind that the money belongs to residents and ratepayers.

“We need to change behaviour even as we improve systems. Whoever owes money to local government, be it national or provincial entities, must pay up, and we have repayment plans for all our department that owe local governments.”

Presently, government departments owe the City of uMhlathuze R207m.

According to Rodgers, the chief cause of corruption and resultant financial woes lies with the tender system.

“We are now implementing an electronic system that will eliminate brown envelopes, and tender submissions will bypass human intervention. We also have a live provincial dashboard for each department, so that any MEC or senior official can exercise live oversight.”

In addition, Rodgers says they have implemented a Procurement, Audit and Risk Committee, and issue quarterly reports.

“We have numerous cost-cutting exercises as we reprioritise our finances, for example looking at overseas travel, hotels, cars and more.

“In a nutshell, the recovery plan focuses on behaviour, discipline, priorities, redirecting of funds, and a better understanding of finances,” said Rodgers.

Tackling the coal dust challenge

The meeting at the Civic Centre was also addressed by Deputy Mayor Muzi Mtshali, who heads the Electricity & Energy portfolio, directly relating to service delivery issues.

On that score, he faced a barrage of complaints and questions, including the city’s coal dust problems.

Although it does not fall under his ambit, MEC Rodgers offered some blunt advice on the truck problems.

“Don’t be soft! Issue heavy fines for non-compliance, damage to infrastructure, road and driver offences and all forms of lawlessness,” said Rodgers.

“R5 000 a fine will soon make drivers and truck companies conform. And if they don’t pay, impound their vehicles.”

According to Cllr Mtshali, the City has made a decision to issue no new permits for coal stockpiling – another crucial source of coal dust – and will not renew any permits when current permits expire.

Don’t have the ZO app? Download it to your Android or Apple device here: