Tough test awaits new eThekwini mayor

One of the first tasks facing eThekwini municipality’s new tough-talking mayor, James Nxumalo, will be to deal with two members on his executive committee who are still active members of several companies which have done business with the municipality. Nxumalo has taken office with a firm declaration that he will not tolerate councillors with business interests on his team. He started his tenure as mayor with a promise of tough action against errant councillors in his inauguration speech on Monday, saying they would have to open up their business interests for public scrutiny. “I declare war against fraud, corruption and maladministration and, together with the Speaker, we will take action against councillors and officials who are found to be doing business with the municipality,” he said. In November 2010, The Mercury revealed that councillors Stanley Xulu and Nondumiso Cele were not only involved in businesses, but that they were trading with the council on which they served.

Their names were included on a municipal list of 20 councillors who had allegedly flouted the law by not declaring their business interests. They were again elected to council in the May 18 elections, but now they have graduated to serve on the executive committee. A Cipro check by The Mercury on Monday has revealed that, between them, the two are still active members of six companies which had done business with the municipality. The Mercury could not reach Xulu on Monday. Cele said she was a member of Cuphiwe Trading Enterprises when she got into council in 2006. She said she had declared her interest in the company, which was doing business with eThekwini, but did not know she had to resign. She said she had already resigned from Cuphiwe when the November story was published. Inqanawe Gomama, another business that she was involved in, was a cooperative formed by a group of women, which had never done any business, she said. Asked what businesses she was involved in which were doing municipal work, she hung up.

Last year, Xulu pleaded with The Mercury not to reveal the names of councillors who had not declared their business interests. “It’s almost election time. Some people will want to be elected and their names may be dented,” he said at the time. Xulu said some councillors, like himself, might have followed the proper procedures, but their names were still on the municipality’s list of those who had not declared their interests. While Xulu had resigned from the Igagasi Lolwandle Foundation, which was formed when he was unsure if he would be re-elected as a councillor, he still has several other companies to his name. Council spokesman Thabo Mofokeng said all councillors, those returning and new, were expected to declare their business interests. The declaration forms had been given to councillors as part of a package of documents to be filled out when they started their terms in office. “We are not going to discuss the matter relating to Cele and Xulu now because there is an investigation under way into various issues within the municipality,” he said.

During the inauguration of the new eThekwini council in Durban on Monday, Co-operative Governance MEC Nomusa Dube reminded councillors that her department was still investigating the municipality for alleged widespread financial mismanagement and irregular expenditure. She said that the city had been fingered for non-compliance with supply chain management policies and the non-disclosure of interests by councillors and municipal officials, which was also being investigated. “To people who come to council as business people with the aim of doing business with the municipality, we are very sorry. Business people should do clean business and grow the economy, not as councillors, but as business people,” she said. While campaigning for the recent elections, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe told The Mercury that there was “no foolproof system” to prevent councillors from doing business with the municipalities which employed them. However, the law did not allow councillors to adjudicate over tenders.

“The challenge is to ensure that tender boards comprise individuals of good reputation, who will not allow themselves to be swayed by people who are not part of these boards,” he said. The Municipal Finance Management Act prohibits municipalities and municipal entities from making awards to people “in the service of the state”.