"We Inherited A Mess": DA Mayoral Elect Chris Pappas Says it Will Take Time to Fix uMngeni Municipality

The Democratic Alliance managed to win over uMngeni municipality at the local government elections. Briefly News spoke to the DA's mayoral-elect at uMngeni Municipality, who spoke to us about how the party plans to run the municipality that was previously governed by the African National Congress.

PIETERMARITZBURG - The Democratic Alliance managed to overthrow the African National Congress and win the majority vote at uMnegeni Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. This will be the first time the political organisation will govern a municipality in the province.

Briefly News had a conversation with the uMngeni Municipality mayoral-elect Chris Pappas who explained what the DA plans to achieve at the municipality in the next five years and what their challenges will be.

The DA in uMngeni wants to instil the DA governance culture

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Pappas says the first order of business when it comes to governance in uMngeni is to instil the same working culture the DA has when it comes to running municipalities, which is a culture of hard work, sacrifice and dedication.

"So I want that to start to filtering into the administration of the municipality as well," says Pappas.

Pappas says he wants the officials as well as the administration of the municipality to also buy into that DA culture.

DA wants to get financial stability before focusing on bigger projects

Pappas says the DA will first focus on the basic issues that a municipality needs to carry out such as refuse collection, streetlights, potholes and grass cutting.

He says the DA will also try to stabilise the finances of the municipality before the party can focus on bigger projects such as housing.

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"We need to get a hold of what is being misspent. Where are the contracts that are overcharging us and all those sorts of things because without doing that we won't have money to achieve the small things and bigger things later," explains Pappas.

DA will run a skills audit at uMngeni Municipality

The mayoral elect says he does not want to scare any of the current officials working at uMngeni Municipality, but the DA will be running a skills audit to ensure that municipal officials are qualified to do their jobs.

Pappas added that the DA would also like for employees to come to work and be proud of the work that they do.

"For many years I think people have struggled because of internal politics and because they didn't have the tools of trade. So, we want everyone to come to work and deliver services," says Pappas.

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Pappas added that the DA is not naive and they are aware that there are people who are working at uMngeni municipality because of political deployment and he says those people need to be rooted out.

He says skills audits will be running from senior management and as the years go on, they will also run lifestyle audits.

DA asks residents to be patient with them

Pappas says he wants the people of uMngneni to know that it will take some time to fix the issues being experienced at the municipality.

"I want the people of uMngeni to know that we've inherited a huge mess and that it's going to be fixed overnight," says Pappas.

He says the DA in uMngeni does not want to be the kind of government that continuously blames the previous government for any failings but wants to be transparent with the people. Pappas says part of that transparency is letting people know that things will take time.

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Triumphant DA urges uMngeni Municipality officials to cooperate or step: "Fire them"

Briefly News previously reported that the Democratic Alliance (DA) has come out firing some strict orders following its historic triumph at the local polls to win the uMngeni District Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal.

The party on Wednesday issued a stern warning to officials there to either form a working relationship with the party or pack their bags and leave.

TimesLIVE reported that DA provincial leader Francois Rodgers, who was addressing supporters at a victory rally, stressed that officials would be made accountable.

Source: Briefly News