DURBAN – The mayor of eThekwini, Mxolisi Kaunda, acknowledged the city’s failures and said his administration was responding to the challenges.
Kaunda’s statements followed his survival of a motion of no confidence on Friday.
The motion was tabled during the special council meeting to elect a new deputy mayor in Durban.
READ: ActionSA presses eThekwini council to include motion to remove Kaunda
In January, the Active Coalition Citizen Party wrote to the Speaker of the council requesting an urgent motion to remove the mayor, after complaining about a lack of service delivery in the metro.
During the council debate, before voting on the motion, most political parties also raised concerns about the service delivery in eThekwini, including the issue of beaches contaminated by sewage.
READ: Water quality challenges in eThekwini impact ailing hospitality industry
However, Kaunda survived the motion with 126 voting to keep him as mayor and 81 voting in support of the motion.
Responding to the concerns raised, he agreed that there were challenges in the metro, saying they were being attended to.
“We acknowledged the challenges that the city is faced with. We’ve started to intervene, in terms of the cleanliness. Those who reside in the city can see the improvements, but we don’t want people to enjoy the improvements, we want them to see a change.”
Kaunda vowed that Durban would return to its clean state with improved infrastructure.
BREAKING: Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda survives the motion tabled to remove him as @eThekwiniM Mayor. Out of 208 councillors present excluding him, 81 voted for his removal, 126 voted against his removal while 1 vote was abstained. @_NMabaso pic.twitter.com/axhO0aD2OY
‘ EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) February 3, 2023