Inside the former killing fields of KZN

Mtubatuba Local Municipality has been in and out of administration since 2011. A municipal manager (MM) at Mtubatuba Local Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal says political maturity can lead to stable government, even in a coalition arrangement. Mtubatuba has been in and out of administration by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) since 2011. The municipality also has a long history of political violence, misgovernance, and financial mismanagement.Political killings in the area But Xulu told The Citizen in a sit-down interview that over the last four years, the municipality has managed to work on some of these challenges. “Previously it was difficult for a mayor to complete a year in Mtubatuba, but now the current mayor, Cllr Mthethwa, is finishing his fourth year as a mayor. It was also difficult for the municipal manager to last a year in Mtubatuba, but now that is history because I am also now completing my fourth year. “All of this is through co-operation and maturity from our leaders; that is why today we are stable as a municipality,” he said. Political killings in KZN in general Political maturity Mtubatuba is governed by the IFP, ACDP and DA. However, the IFP occupies the crucial positions of mayor and speaker of council. Despite this, Xulu says all coalition members have found a way to work together harmoniously. “There is stability, and they are able to understand each other,” said Xulu. He said there have been no notable instances of political intolerance since the current administration took over. “From 2022 to date, we do not have any issues of political violence in Mtubatuba. Even if there are by-elections in our area, you can see the ANC and the IFP standing together…since I became MM, we have had two by-elections and at no stage were there fights among our leaders when there were by-elections,” he said. Xulu said rate collection is a problem for Mtubatuba since the municipality only collects rates from three wards out of 23. “We rely mostly on grants for our survival; almost 90% of our budget comes from government, both provincial and national, because there are only a few wards where we are able to collect.” Rate collection and service delivery He said the other challenge to rate collection is unemployment. Xulu said government is the main employer in Mtubatuba. “We are working hard as a municipality to try and attract investors,” he said. Xulu said there are a number of plans that the municipality has to grow the local economy of Mtubatuba; this includes the construction of a shopping centre and what he described as a Truck shop. The municipality also wants a hospital in the area since there is none currently. “We are a big municipality in the district, but we do not have a hospital in Mtubatuba; we only have clinics.” Xulu said Mtubatuba has no hospital because there was no land for government to build the hospital on. “That is why now the council of Mtubatuba had to now buy the land…now we have managed now to source the land,” he said.