KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube has locked horns with uMngeni Mayor Chris Pappas over the premier’s service delivery imbizo.
The imbizo will take place on Saturday, 15 July at Mpophomeni Stadium, where the local municipality will host a Sports Day.
Pappas has accused Dube-Ncube of not following the correct procedure in organising the imbizo.
The mayor said there are several irregularities with the event and the imposition of an intervention on uMngeni.
“The premier has used a ward councillor to book and pay for the venue for a provincial government event. This is highly irregular as the protocol and good financial management dictate that the officials in the office of the premier should coordinate with the municipality. No event application has been received by the uMngeni Municipality,” he said.
Pappas, the first Democratic Alliance (DA) Mayor in KZN, said had the premier not used the backdoor, she would have known that the municipality would be using the same venue on the same day.
“In a document linked to event planning, it was revealed that the event was a low-risk event because it is an ANC event and the area is ANC. This is disturbing, considering that the premier is coming in her capacity as an elected representative and not as her party. This is a clear abuse of state resources for party political gain,” said Pappas.
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He said that it is disturbing that they learnt that the purpose of imbizo is said to be motivated by a lack of service delivery.
“There is also evidence that this is a politically motivated 'imbizo' and not a true offer of assistance to the people of uMngeni,” said Pappas.
Premier Dube-Ncube is adamant that planned imbizo will go ahead as planned.
“Let us remind Councillor Pappas that izimbizo are platforms through which the government interacts directly with communities during which the highest executive leadership respond directly to issues raised by ordinary members of the public," she said.
Dube-Ncube further reminded Pappas that ANC is the democratically elected governing party in Mzansi.
"We will not allow him or anyone to subvert democratic outcomes and to balkanise our country back into apartheid-era fiefdoms and Bantustans while we are in charge,” Dube-Ncube added.
