Malema blames eThekwini city manager for poor service delivery
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has labelled eThekwini City Manager Musa Mbhele as incompetent.
He accused Mbhele of being a gatekeeper of service delivery in the municipality.
Malema spoke during a media briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday
He said the city manager prevented the EFF in eThekwini from implementing measures to solve the Tongaat water crisis.
"The problem with eThekwini is that the way the municipality is designed, everything is run through the city manager. The eThekwini city manager can run the municipality with powers vested in him without politicians. That is the power he had.
"He is a man who is paranoid, every deputy city manager he has declared them enemies. So, when they go into a committee to process some procurement, ultimately he must sign. He says 'It is a trap. They are setting me up. They want to remove me’. That municipality, more than (Mayor Mxolisi) Kaunda being a problem, the problem is the city manager who is lazy and always out of the country.
"Our committee is responsible for almost 80 per cent of the budget of eThekwini. We sit with piles and piles of documents that seek the approval of a city manager because you can’t do anything in eThekwini without the city manager. He is holding up service delivery."
On the party's manifesto launch at Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium at the weekend, Malema said the rally was successful despite claims that it bussed in supporters.
"The tribalists are going to say, 'He brought people in from Limpopo. You will never satisfy tribalists; that is why we took a decision that KZN never be a tribalistic province.
"The EFF condemns tribalism, and we must have tribalism the same way we hate racism, and we call on all our structures and ground forces in KZN, Gauteng, Limpopo, North West and all other provinces to remain focused and disciplined without degenerating into tribalist tendencies."
