Category: News

On Friday, 23 September, we joined hundreds of mourners in paying tribute to late Ibambabukhosi Dr Dumisani Blasius Khumalo, 76 of the Osuthu Traditional Council, at a moving funeral ceremony that was held at KwaGqikazi TVET College in Nongoma.

Khumalo was murdered last week Saturday, 17 September by unknown gunmen.

He truly left an indelible mark on the lives of the people he came across in his private life and in the various roles that he served in including that of Iso LeSilo and Ibambabukhosi in the Osuthu Traditional Community a role that he was appointed into by the late King Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu.

The institution of traditional leadership has lost a fountain of wisdom, who went all out in the service of His Majesty.

We mourn with you your Majesty, King Misuluzulu kaZwelithini as you have lost a diligent steward, who stood by his principles of humility and servanthood until he took his last breath.

We call upon all law enforcement agencies to leave no stone unturned in their quest to apprehend the criminals that are responsible for this senseless murder.

As a former educator, speaker after speaker hailed Khumalo for his passion for education and for being at the forefront of programmes that are aimed at empowering young people.

Khumalo, served in various roles in the KZN Department of Education until his retirement, with the highest role being that of Chief Education Specialist for Ordinary School Education Head for KZN.

Issued by the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sihle Zikalala

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On the 16th of September, mayors and municipal managers from KwaZulu-Natal Municipalities were gathered at the Public Works, Mayville Conference Centre, for the quarterly meeting with the  Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Sihle Zikalala.

The Head of Department ( HOD) Thando Tubane was the program director for the meeting. The MuniMec was attended by various stakeholders including amakhosi and officials from municipalities and provincial government. 

Keys among the issues that were discussed during the meeting, was the huge increase in monies owed to municipalities by various consumers which currently stand at R35.7 billion. On this item, all the mayors agreed on the importance of measures being implemented to circumvent the huge increase in debt and to find innovative ways to encourage consumers to settle their debt.

Speaking about this issue, MEC Zikalala added his voice to the call for municipalities to implement revenue enhancement measures and indicated that the department will support municipalities in all these efforts. “As municipalities, you do not have the luck of having a bottomless pit of money which you can use to deliver basic services to our communities. Consumers, therefore, have to play their part by paying for the services rendered to them.

Inkosi Shinga, the chairperson of the KZN Provincial House of Traditional Leaders (PHTL), shared some concerns from Amakhosi, he echoed the importance of Ward Committees and Traditional Councils to have a good working relationship so that the lives of the community can be bettered.

Various presentations were done by various representatives from Government Departments including the department of Transport which did a comprehensive presentation on all the work being done on roads belonging to it in the province. 

The meeting also welcomed the presentations on the Expanded Public Works Programme, National Anti-Corruption Hotline cases for the province and the Ilembe District Development Plan. 

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On the 12th of September 2022, the Department woke up to the harrowing news of yet another assassination of a councillor in the province.  This is the second assassination within the space of a week. 

On the 8th of September, two ward councillors under the Msinga Local Municipality were attacked by unknown gunmen who opened fire on the vehicle they were travelling in. In this incident, Cllr Siyanda Magubane of ward 11, unfortunately, succumbed to his injuries.

Yesterday, the Department learned of the sad news of the assassination of a ward 99 councillor in eThekwini, Cllr Mnqobi Molefe, who was also gunned down by unknown gunmen. 

Expressing his bereavement, MEC Zikalala said, “The pain and loss that we continue to suffer as a province in the hands of criminals that are hell-bent on weakening the sphere of local government has reached epic proportions.” 

MEC Zikalala is calling upon law enforcement agencies to leave no stone unturned in their quest to apprehend the terrorists responsible for these acts of treason. He said the attacks on councillors should be viewed as a crime against the state and the people of South Africa. 

“We call upon our communities to come forward with information that will assist law enforcement agencies in their investigations”, said Zikalala. “We also express our condolences to the families of the councillors, their community, political party and the municipalities they served under”, he added.

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The sphere of local government in our province and country is built on the back of the work that is done by councillors who are tasked with representing the interests of their ward or constituency. They serve as a bridge between the community and the council.

This morning we once more woke up to the harrowing news of yet another assassination of a councillor in our province, this is the second assassination within the space of a week. 

On the 8th of September, two ward councillors under the Msinga Local Municipality were attacked by unknown gunmen who opened fire on the vehicle they were travelling in. In this incident, Cllr Siyanda Magubane of ward 11, unfortunately, succumbed to his injuries.

Today, we learned of the sad news of the assassination of a ward 99 councillor in eThekwini, Cllr Mnqobi Molefe, who was also gunned down by unknown gunmen. 

The pain and loss that we continue to suffer as a province in the hands of criminals that are hell-bent on weakening the sphere of local government has reached epic proportions. 

We call upon law enforcement agencies to leave no stone unturned in their quest to apprehend the terrorists responsible for these acts of treason. 

The attacks on our councillors should be viewed as a crime against the state and the people of South Africa. 

The sphere of local government within our province will not succumb to the will of the forces of evil who seek to destabilise it. 

We call upon our communities to come forward with information that will assist law enforcement agencies in their investigations. 

We also express our condolences to the families of the councillors, their community, political party and the municipalities they served under. 

Issued by the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sihle Zikalala 

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We are devastated and saddened by the unbearable news of the brutal murder of Ms Nokuthula Dlamini who worked for the department as a Community Development Worker for Ward 16 in the Mtubatuba Local Municipality. 

Ms Dlamini was murdered together with her mother and 2 children (the youngest age 1) by unknown gunmen in the early hours of this morning. 

The fact that they had already taken the lives of the victims was not enough for these heartless individuals, who have the audacity to murder women and children, they went on to torch their victims’ dwelling.   

It is time that our law enforcement agencies take the fight to the next level.  We appeal for the cooperation among all agencies to brings these acts to a complete stop.  We want our women and children to feel safe in our Province.  These barbaric and inhumane acts of utmost violence have no place in our society.  September is heritage month, and in our African culture even during a war, our women and children remained sacrosanct!  This cowardice is foreign to us.

We call upon law enforcement agencies to collaborate and leave no stone unturned to bring the perpetrators of these heinous acts to book.

We also appeal to our communities to come forward with information that will assist law enforcement agencies to apprehend the people the criminals. 

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The sphere of local government continues to be at the coal face of service delivery to our communities.

Today, we convened a special meeting with the Mayors and Executive Committees of the Msunduzi, Mpofana and Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipalities to assess their progress.

These three municipalities are under Section 139(1)b intervention in terms of the constitution.

The meeting was also attended by the respective Administrators and senior management.

The mayors of these municipalities provided us with a comprehensive report on service delivery, the status of the council; council structures and financial reports.

The reports provided by the municipalities give us hope and are a clear indication that these municipalities are making progress in turning their situation around.

Our call to these municipalities is for them to play their role in stabilising and providing solid leadership which will help them turn around their situation.

As a provincial government, we do not encourage prolonged interventions in municipalities. Our view is that the number of municipalities under intervention should be reduced over time. This requires the leadership of the municipalities to play their part and bring stability.

Part of the resolutions for this meeting is for the three municipalities to fill all vacant senior management positions. This will ensure that the municipalities can deliver their services to our communities.

These municipalities have performed well in terms of expenditure of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant, which is utilised to provide basic services to rural communities.

The issue of consumer debt continues to be a big drain on the finances of these municipalities as they are owed millions of rands by various consumers. We are committed to assisting these municipalities in their revenue enhancement drives.

Issued by the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sihle Zikalala

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The Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, MEC Sihle Zikalala has welcomed the intervention by the uMzumbe Local Municipality, which will cover the costs of the funeral of the Mkhungo family, after the incident that occurred over the weekend where the family is alleged to have been refused the right to bury their mother in a parcel of land in uMthwalume, along the South Coast, by an Induna. 

This incident led the family, to have to return the body of their loved one to the mortuary. 

Following the intervention of MEC Zikalala, who directed the department to investigate the matter, several interventions have been rolled out by the provincial government to assist the family. 

These interventions include:

• psychosocial support to the family for the traumatic experience that they went through. 
• Profiling of the households in line with Operation Sukuma Sakhe so that the department of Human Settlements can assist the family with an RDP house

The uMzumbe Local Municipality will incur the costs for the funeral, which will now take place tomorrow, 18 August at a municipal cemetery. 

Issued by the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, MEC Sihle Zikalala

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The Department’s values of transparency, integrity, professionalism and objectivity were displayed by MEC Sihle Zikalala when he appeared before the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in Durban on Tuesday, 16 August.

The Commission is currently conducting an inquiry on access to water in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal.

During his appearance before the Commission, MEC Zikalala, accompanied by senior departmental officials made a substantive presentation on the state of water provision within the Province.

“Currently, access to water in the Province stands just under 80%. There are an estimated 425 000 families that still do not have access to water according to a 2020 study by the Department on access to water” said MEC Zikalala.

MEC Zikalala apprised members of the Human Rights Commission of the state of access to water in the Province.

In addition to painting the picture of Household Water Access in KwaZulu-Natal per District, he further alluded to the Provincial Water Master Plan which identifies short, medium and long-term interventions to ensure water security in KwaZulu-Natal for domestic consumption, agriculture and other economic activities.

The MEC’s presentation paved a way for meaningful and robust engagements with the commissioners present during the inquiry where the MEC further unpacked the province’s Water Master Plan.

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The Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, MEC Sihle Zikalala has called upon the management of the department to prioritise the interests of communities through efficient, effective and trustworthy support to the institution of traditional leadership and the sphere of local government.

This morning, MEC Zikalala met with the department’s management at the Cogta Mayville Offices where he outlined his vision for the department and the kind of work culture he would like to see take place within the department.

This was the first of a series of engagements that the MEC will have with both internal and external stakeholders, as the MEC familiarises himself with the environment.

As a department that is also tasked with the coordination of disaster response within the province, many communities rely on the department to ensure that interim and long-term relief is rolled out in an effective manner that takes into consideration their human rights.

In his remarks, the MEC emphasised the importance of professionalism in how staff conduct the affairs of the department.

On the sidelines of the meeting with the management, the MEC also met with the Development and Planning Planning Branch which comprises the Business Units that deal with Local Economic Development, Disaster Management, Municipal Infrastructure and Municipal Planning.

In his input during this meeting, the MEC called upon the Units to prioritise innovation and embrace new ideas as they grapple with improving the economy of municipalities, disaster response and the roll-out of basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity to communities.

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The Western Cape Disaster Management teams that assisted the province of KwaZulu-Natal when it faced the floods in April and May have been honoured by the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, MEC Sipho Hlomuka, during a special visit to the Western Cape during a benchmark and appreciation visit.

The visit is part of efforts by the department to honour and appreciate the brave men and women that made up the advanced search and rescue teams and engineers that were deployed by the western cape government to assist the province when it faced the biggest natural disaster in the countries history.

The appreciation ceremony took place at the Western Cape Provincial Disaster Management Centre, in Cape Town, where the MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Mr Anthon Bredell together with the MEC Hlomuka president over it.

In his remarks, MEC Bredell emphasised his province’s commitment to working closely with KZN on areas of mutual interest when it comes to disaster risk mitigation. “As coastal provinces, we face unique challenges, which require us to closely work together through agreements that will assist us to find practical solutions to the challenges that we face in our respective provinces. Through these partnerships we will be able to put our economies on better footing” said MEC Bredell.

“As the provincial government in KZN, we felt it appropriate that we come to this province to officially express our gratitude for the support that was given to our province during a very difficult period which led to the loss of 456 lives with 82 people still missing. We strongly believe that had it not been for the interventions and additional support we got from our sister provinces, the situation could have been worse. The intervention brought about by the advanced search and rescue teams from the Western Cape saved many lives and ensured that recoveries can be done” said MEC Hlomuka.

During the appreciation ceremony, 13 search and rescue members and 1 engineer were given certificates of appreciation in honour of their role in assisting the province of KZN during the floods.

The visit also saw officials from both provinces share best practices on disaster management.

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