An alleged cable fault near the Durban International Convention Centre (ICC) was blamed for the cancellation of the eThekwini Full Council meeting on Thursday.
The meeting which had begun late, led to only the formalities being discussed before eThekwini councillors felt the heat was unbearable and called for the air conditioners to be switched on. Councillors were told that there was a problem with the electricity supply and the generators.
EThekwini speaker Thabani Nyawose said that they were in direct contact with the electricity department to find out what had caused the power supply to the ICC to be cut off. After a brief adjournment and lunch, Nyawose announced that the meeting was postponed to Friday. He said a fault on one of the cables feeding the area was damaged. Nyawose was told that it would take time to repair the cable.
In a statement, the Ethekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement (ERPM) who had been watching proceedings live, stated that an important budget vote was set to take place. An ERPM statement said: “We are informed that councillors had received a 175 page document for the adjustment budget late 2024/2025 on Wednesday night for a vote to take place on this critical matter affecting ratepayers in council. How are councillors supposed to make informed decisions for their constituents on such short notice?”
The repriorisation of the capital budget was approved by council on November 6, 2024 to fund critical and urgent projects. The most significant being the storm damage projects that are currently causing environmental pollution and upgrading of the city hall.
Other items for discussion concerned illegal electricity connections, Cleansing and Solid Waste fleet management issues and important records on billing.
The Council has 222 councillors. Before the meeting was adjourned Nyawose also urged councillors to convene more meetings in their respective wards.
Nyawose said he was approached by councillors with complaints that senior officials were not making themselves available for meetings and instead they were sending subordinates who could not provide feedback to the public. Nyawose said that in January, only 21 meetings were convened by councillors, while in February, 12 meetings were held
Nyawose said all 110 ward committees were fully functional except for ward 39 in KwaMashu. He said a risk assessment by law enforcement will be undertaken and proper planning for the election for ward committees will take place.