KZN's Ugu district municipality elects new mayor

The Ugu district municipality on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast has elected a new mayor, five months after the post became vacant due to Phumzile Mthiyane's death in January.

The ANC's Sikhumbuzo Isaac Mqadi was sworn in unopposed during a full municipal council sitting on Thursday. The municipality said Mqadi was a seasoned leader who understood the socioeconomic struggles facing residents as he hailed from the rural KwaXolo community, (Gcilima). 

Mqadi pledged to speedily handle service-delivery issues.

“All our efforts must be driven towards improving service delivery, as well as creating a conducive environment for tourism, young entrepreneurs and businesspeople. This requires working together regardless of political affiliations to put people's needs first.”

A focus area, he said, would be ensuring all hands were on deck to make certain water was provided in all communities and that the sewage-system issue was addressed. 

Many municipalities in the area have gone weeks without clean water, resulting in reliance on water tankers. There is also a problem with raw sewage flowing into rivers, seriously damaging ecosystems.