Francois Rodgers,DA leader in KwaZulu-Natal.

• The DA says it has a plan for the eThekwini metro. 
• It requires the party to have numbers in the metro, which is run by a coalition led by the ANC and EFF.
• Meanwhile, ActionSA has asked caucus leaders for an urgent sit-down to address the crises crippling the metro.

The DA in eThekwini has called for the dissolution of the troubled council, which governs the crisis-stricken metro. 

In a press briefing on Wednesday, the party’s eThekwini caucus chief, Thabani Mthethwa, provincial leader Francois Rodgers, and DA spokesperson on cooperative governance and traditional affairs spokesperson Martin Meyer announced the DA would try to use Section 34 of the Municipal Structures Act to dissolve the metro.

Section 34 is the regime that governs the dissolution of municipal councils, and this can only be applied two years after a new council is formed.

Councillors would have to table a motion to debate the item for dissolution. 

Should the DA’s plan succeed, eThekwini residents will have to go back to the polls and vote for a new council leadership.

The party’s caucus acknowledged its plan was “bold but needed” amid a multitude of service delivery failures.

READ | eThekwini’s Section 154 plan hits a snag: Councillors snub MEC’s call for urgent meeting

The DA described the state of the metro as being in a “historical, unabated collapse of service delivery.”

The party would have to table a motion that would be carried by 50%+1, after which it will need a two-thirds majority to pass.

Asked by News24 if he is confident the plan will work, Rodgers said:  

He added the DA attempted to see the invocation of section 139 after the national government mooted the failed section 154 process – but both attempts were swatted away by the majority in the council.

“We’ve tried every angle that’s possible for us in terms of legislation,” Rodgers said, adding there was no buy-in at a provincial level because that was also an ANC-controlled sphere of the government. He added the section 34 route cannot be blocked by either Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube or Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi. 

“We call on all councillors to support this and let the residents of the City determine their own future,” he said. 

But the DA faces some significant hurdles.

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According to the handbook, the municipal council may dissolve itself at a meeting called specifically to dissolve the council, and at this meeting, councillors would have to adopt a resolution dissolving it.

This action must be supported by at least two-thirds of the council.

In the 2021 local government elections, the ANC won 99 council seats, DA 59 and EFF 24.

The handbook states the MEC must obtain the concurrence of the national minister, and the notice to dissolve the council has to be tabled in the National Council of Provinces and approved there. 

Meanwhile, ActionSA provincial chairperson Zwakele Mncwango asked caucus leaders for an urgent meeting to address the crises facing the metro.

The meeting will be held at Saint Olav Church in Musgrave, Durban, on Thursday. 

In a letter dated 29 November to caucus leaders in the council, Mncwango said the meeting was “for all political parties represented in eThekwini Municipality, excluding the ANC.”