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The first Mayoral Integrated Development Planning (IDP)/Budget consultation roadshow is in full swing. However, it appears Newcastle Mayor, Cllr Xolani Dube, has struck a nerve with the local African National Congress (ANC).
This comes after the ANC’s Mbuso Kubheka Region (formerly Emalahleni Region) issued a statement cautioning Cllr Dube to refrain from his obsession with dragging the ANC’s name for his dismal failures to lead the Newcastle Municipality.
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ANC Regional Spokesperson Reuben Molelekoa said that Dube had been excited by the podium in the recent roadshows. Further stating that he spends more than 90% of his time speaking ill of the ANC and the Newcastle Municipality’s previous administration.
“We warn Mr Dube to focus on his tasks and not play politics of the gutter and gallery. We warn you Mr Dube to focus on your failures and admit that you accepted a position that is way beyond your capacity and comprehension.”
According to the ANC Mbuso Kubheka Region, Cllr Dube was accidentally elected Mayor of the Newcastle Municipality and failed to grasp the role for the past six months. This apparently comes as no surprise to the ANC, as the political party states Cllr Dube possesses no experience and no theoretical knowledge of governance.
“Newcastle is one of the secondary cities in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, which requires sound and sober political leadership that one will not find in the current Mayor,” Molelekoa said.
Towards the end of the previous term, the ANC claimed that it ensured all wards and the people of Newcastle were treated equally and received services due to them, as enshrined in the South African Constitution and other duly adopted policies of the country.
According to the ANC Mbuso Kubheka Region, it is for this reason that the ANC-led Council adopted “One Ward, One Project” as a minimum approach to deliver services to all the people of Newcastle.
“It is known that Mr Dube tries by all means to ensure that Municipal Wards that are governed by the African National Congress do not have projects and activities of service delivery, in order to sway the public perception that there is no delivery where the ANC governs,” Molelekoa added.
He further stated that it should be noted that during the 2021 Local Government Elections, the ANC won a majority of the wards in the Newcastle Municipality, which is 21 out of 34.
“The IFP, which Mr Dube leads as a Provincial Secretary, only obtained six wards in this Municipality. The people of Newcastle voted for service delivery, and their votes are not to be used against them, give Newcastle people what is due to them,” Molelekoa emphasised.
The ANC also accused Cllr Dube of mistreating and attacking members of the public who attend the roadshows to raise their concerns and unhappiness about his posture of using people’s issues for his “narrow and backwards-thinking political gains.”
“Members of the public have been demonised, called names and labelled as people who are sent by the African National Congress to disrespect him on his roadshows.”
Molelekoa continued by saying that the ANC would like to remind Cllr Dube that South Africa is a democratic country that embraces the values of openness, transparency, freedom of speech, and freedom of association, among others.
“The African National Congress understands its role in the Newcastle Municipality Council and will not allow Mr Dube to behave like he is running a kindergarten, where he is the master and all are his unconscious subjects. Mr Dube believes he is a God sent angel to us, while he fails to understand the very basic legislations of local government,” declared Molelekoa.
He said the ANC is now calling upon the people of Newcastle to continue exercising their rights by attending the roadshows, raising issues, and never being intimidated by Cllr Dube’s attempts to be a political celebrity and a demi-god of Newcastle.
“The ANC has a vast experience in government and have always allowed space for engagements and collaboration. We will continue to play our role as the only opposition party against an unsustainable and failing coalition of eight political parties,” Molelekoa further noted.
Responding to the allegations and attacks, Cllr Dube states that the ANC is traumatised by its own failures. Therefore, statements such as the one released by the ANC are issued in order to derail public attention from the tangible changes that the IFP led coalition is making on the ground and to the Newcastle Municipality.
Cllr Dube says, “I acknowledge that the ANC can only play the role of being an opposition party that failed in governing Newcastle Municipality for the past 13 years, therefore I am not surprised. The electorate of Newcastle no longer had reasons to keep the ANC in power, that is because for the past 13 years, Newcastle Municipality under the governance of the ANC reached outright financial destruction.”
Diving deeper into the topic, the Newcastle Mayor states the current administration inherited a Municipality with R443.8 million in total debt. R193 million is owed to Eskom, and R131 million is owed to uThukela water, both of which form part of essential service delivery.
“When we took over, the institution had a deficit of R148 million, which has since deceased due to the financial stability and discipline that IFP-led coalition is installing,” he explained.
Additionally, Cllr Dube adds that the Newcastle Municipality lost conditional grants over the years valued at over R300 million under the ANC.
This was due to the failure of ANC-led Councils to spend grants for service delivery purposes.
According to Cllr Dube, it is because of this that the current administration is sitting with the catastrophic problem of ageing infrastructure, a dilapidated road network system and unbearable living conditions for people, especially in the rural east of Newcastle.
Moreover, the Newcastle Mayor emphasised that one cannot help but ask the question of “which service delivery or One-Ward, One Project is ANC’s Mbuso Khubeka Region referring to, given the tangible evidence on the ground?”
“The truth of the matter is that the ANC has failed since day one, when they took over from the IFP that left the institution with R 366 million in the bank and R 290 million surplus in 2009.”
However, Cllr Dube stresses that it is important that he draw this distinction for the ANC, that the Municipality will not tolerate political individuals who are intentionally placed to distract the IDP roadshows.
Additionally, he notes that the IDP roadshows are not a political arena for pity politics of the ANC, highlighting that the community remains the priority of the IFP-led coalition.
“We need to deliver service to our people, and deal decisively with ill-disciplined ANC comrades who have no interest in our community service delivery.”
According to Cllr Dube, one of his primary goals as the Mayor of Newcastle Municipality is to lead the institution out of its financial disaster and systematic dilemma, including the total elimination of corruption.
“The institutional stability that we are experiencing today, the financial discipline that is being implemented, is a result of our collective effort as the coalition to turn things around. Therefore, I urge the ANC that for once in its lifetime, it focuses on accepting they had the opportunity to deliver services to our people, but they failed, that’s why Newcastle is an unequal society, and that they accept that they are no longer in power. Therefore the IFP-led coalition has no time for pity politics and attention-seeking behavior from the ANC,” concluded the Newcastle Mayor.
With the ANC and the IFP-led coalition battling it out, what are your thoughts on the statements released?
Share your views in the comment section below.
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4 Responses
Well done to the IFP
Lead us ifp sikhathele amaxoki
IFP must focus on service delivery and not on entertaining the pity politic by ANC
Just listen to what Mr. Mbeki had to say …