eThekwini Mayor Zandile Gumede 'too ill' for Exco meeting
Mayor Zandile Gumede. Mayor Zandile Gumede.
Durban - eThekwini Mayor Zandile Gumede could not make it to the executive committee meeting on Tuesday because she was according to officials "indisposed".
Her deputy, Fawzier Peer is chairing the meeting and some of the issues under scrutiny are the expenditures on programmes some of which are questioned by the opposition Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party.
One such item is the funding of the African Renaissance Conference with over R3 million.
Despite some protests and questions by the opposition, the committee resolved to grant authority for the city manager to transfer R3 850 000 to Ukuvuselelwa KwamaAfrica Awareness, trading as African Renaissance, payment required in terms of the partnership agreement for the African Renaissance Conference. The amount will cover venue hire costs, marketing and promotional campaigns, hosting of KZN Ebandla Investment Conference and further development and maintenance of the International Bursary Programme.
DAs councillor Heinz de Boer asked if this will not be another Essence Festival where about R100 million was spent, but the festival “fell flat”.
At the time, the DA had questioned why the festival seemed to focus on big American artists, and why and why the city paid huge licensing fees to host the festival when it could come up with its own concept.
Phillip Sithole, deputy city responsible for the economic cluster, said the African Renaissance Coference was at the ICC and that this will have contribution to the foreign direct investment.