The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) in Ekurhuleni has called on the ruling party to get out of its “unholy marriage” with the EFF in the city of Ekurhuleni.
The youth league in the region has also urged its mother body to back a motion of no confidence set to be heard on Thursday against City of Ekurhuleni mayor Sivuyile Ngodwana.
Ngodwana is an African Independent Congress (AIC) councillor in the city’s municipal council, and the motion of no confidence against the mayor is spearheaded by ActionSA.
An ANCYL spokesperson in Ekurhuleni, Simphiwe Patose, said the “unholy marriage” between the governing party and the EFF “mutilates” the city.
Residents bear the brunt of this entanglement
“The ANCYL and young people in general cannot continue witnessing the unholy marriage the ANC has entangled itself in with pickpocketers. What is most disconcerting is that the residents of Ekurhuleni bear the brunt of this entanglement,” Patose said.
“The City of Ekurhuleni has collapsed, and service delivery is now an aspiration instead of a basic feature in the edifice of the city. Our city resembles a jungle and is becoming a poster of underdevelopment.
“Waste collection is ineffective, there are sewer spillages everywhere, recreational parks are neglected, and streetlights are dysfunctional.”
Patose explained further: “The response by the leadership of the day is to play musical chairs, removing each other and replacing incompetence with even more incompetence. Service delivery is virtually non-existent under this unholy marriage.
“This is a consequence of a glaring and deepening crisis of poor financial position, affecting the city’s ability to pay small businesses that have rendered services.
“The dire financial position of the city could be exacerbated by the non-submission of financials to the auditor-general and the reversal of National Treasury grants due to the incompetence of pickpocketers in executing their oversight of municipal finances.
“This administration is bereft of any capacity to open the doors of learning through the municipal bursary scheme, which has been irrationally scrapped since 2021.
“Pickpocketers stole every cent of the shoe-string budget allocation for the bursary scheme their proxy announced in his maiden Soca [state of the city address], effectively shutting the doors to learning for working-class youth.
“Most of them resided in poor communities saddled by high rates of unemployment and systemic underinvestment.
“The ANCYL calls for the ANC to disabuse itself of this repugnant entanglement and support a motion of no confidence against the executive mayor. It should not cling to power at the expense of the residents of Ekurhuleni.
“Furthermore, we call for the ANC to support the institutional review as tabled, with a view that youthful Tintswalos, who are qualified, be given an opportunity to swell the ranks of the city’s administration serving in strategic positions.”
Annual financial statements not submitted
In January, opposition parties in the city charged EFF MMC for finance in Ekurhuleni, Nkululeko Dunga, with failing to submit the city’s 2022–2023 annual financial statements by the set deadline.
This was seen as a breach of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
Dunga has since rejected the allegations that he did not submit the annual financial statements on time.
He said at the time that the auditor-general’s office did not deliver its audit report to the municipality.
