Does Dlamini-Zuma Have The Stamina To Revive South Africa’s Ailing Municipalities?

The Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will need more than her many years in government administration and the skills she honed while at the helm of the African Union (AU) to turn around the fortunes of South Africa’s ailing municipalities.

Dlamini-Zuma, who replaced Dr Zweli Mkhize who is now health minister, clearly understands the challenges that lie ahead if her budget vote speech before parliament in July is anything to go by – but more on that a little later.

In May last year, Auditor General Kimi Makwetu sent an SOS to Mkhize asking him to intervene in a rather disturbing case in which auditors examining the books of the eThekwini metro and uMsunduzi municipality, both in KwaZulu-Natal, were intimidated and chased out by officials.

In this ‘law of the jungle’ scenario, Makwetu’s office was forced to withdraw their audit managers from the