eThekwini metro receives additional funding to rebuild infrastructure

The eThekwini metro in KwaZulu-Natal has been given a further R1.5 billion by National Treasury to rebuild infrastructure damaged by last year’s floods. That is in addition to last year’s allocation of R185 million allocated to the municipality.

Over 400 people died during the first floods in April last year. A second but less severe incident followed just a month later.

Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda says the eThekwini metro has been given a further R1.5 billion by National Treasury to rebuild infrastructure damaged by last year’s floods.

“Among the things it is going to address are roads, bridges, stormwater systems, human settlement and sanitation infrastructure. The funding comes at a time when the city has reprioritised its budget allocations which amounted to 600 million to urgently restore services like water and sanitation, electricity and roads.”

eThekwini on a path to recovery following the 2021 devastating floods, July unrest

Kaunda has promised that every cent will be accounted for, “This funding comes at a time when the city had reprioritized its budget allocations which amounted to R600 million to urgently restore services like water and sanitation, electricity and roads. We want to assure residents of eThekwini that every cent of this money will go towards addressing outstanding infrastructure issues. Furthermore, we will make sure that there is adherence to protocols that govern supply chain management processes because we remain committed to running a clean and transparent government.”

Unhappiness with political parties 

Kaunda’s plans to tackle crime and economic recovery, draw mixed reactions from opposition parties. The IFP, DA and ActionSA’ say Kaunda’s speech was simply unrealistic promises. They cited untidy streets, crime in business centres and dilapidated infrastructure as deterrents to investors.

IFP’s Mdu Nkosi says, “He spoke about creating the economy, however, it is not clear to us firstly you need to attend to the infrastructure because no investor can come to Durban if the infrastructure is collapsing. And also the issue of crime, when he talks about CCTV cameras our CCTV cameras are not working. There are so many investors who are reluctant to come and do business with us because there is a lot of crime.”

DA’s Thabani Mthethwa says, “We are extremely disappointed, instead that the mayor was going to give a true reflection where the state of the city is. Instead, we saw the mayor making promises, the same way they make promises every year. We were expecting the mayor to tell the public where we are on service delivery.”

Action SA’s Zwakele Mncwango says, “The mayor failed to talk about issues around business forums that are disrupting construction in eThekwini, so you can allocate more money for construction but you cannot ignore that there is a challenge around amadelangokubona and how they affect the issue of infrastructure by delaying these projects.”

Kaunda says the plan is to move the municipality’s meter reading services to the revenue collection unit, in order to provide accurate water and electricity bills.