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10 Nov, 2025
No leader above the law: UDM KwaZulu-Natal condemns Councillor Ndlovu’s alleged sexual assault of young girl
Statement by Remington Mazibuko, Councillor in the Inkosi Mtubatuba Local Municipality and UDM KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Chairperson The United Democratic Movement (UDM) in KwaZulu-Natal is shocked and dismayed by reports that an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) councillor from Ward 14 in Inkosi Mtubatuba Local Municipality, Cllr Ndlovu, allegedly sexually assaulted a young girl and later attempted to bribe the child’s mother with R10,000 to conceal the incident. The details of this case reveal a painful abuse of power and a failure of conscience. Those chosen to serve must protect the dignity of every person, especially the young and vulnerable. Anything less undermines the values on which our democracy stands. The UDM calls on the IFP to immediately suspend Cllr Ndlovu from office pending the outcome of the criminal investigation. Failure to do so will raise serious questions about the IFP’s commitment to ethical leadership and the protection of vulnerable citizens. The Party further calls for a swift, transparent, and impartial investigation into this case. Law enforcement must act decisively to ensure that justice is served, and no political affiliation or public office should be allowed to shield anyone from accountability. We also call for immediate support and protection for the victim and her family. The South African Police Service and the Department of Social Development must ensure that the child receives proper psychosocial care and that her safety is guaranteed throughout the legal process. Gender-Based Violence and Femicide are symptoms of a leadership crisis that has allowed impunity to thrive. Until those in positions of authority lead by example and enforce accountability, our communities will continue to suffer the pain of fear and loss. The UDM in KwaZulu-Natal believes that leadership means protecting the most vulnerable, not preying on them. We expect every public representative to embody the values of honesty, accountability, and respect for human dignity. Those who violate these principles should have no place in public life.
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10 Oct, 2025
31 years later: ANC has bankrupted the Eastern Cape municipalities
Statement by Bulelani Bobotyane, Provincial Secretary of the UDM in the Eastern Cape The United Democratic Movement (UDM) in the Eastern Cape is deeply disturbed by revelations that seven municipalities in the Eastern Cape are on the verge of financial collapse. This is not an isolated administrative failure. It is the product of decades of African National Congress (ANC) misrule that has left local government structures hollow, indebted, and incapable of delivering even the most basic services. The Provincial Treasury’s presentation to Parliament revealed that Makana, Sundays River Valley, Amathole, Raymond Mhlaba, Amahlathi, Walter Sisulu and King Sabata Dalindyebo municipalities will not survive beyond a month without intervention. Only Koukamma has slightly more cash reserves, barely enough for three months. Under ANC governance, 33 out of 39 municipalities are distressed, with only six receiving clean audits in the 2023/24 financial year. The scale of financial recklessness is staggering. Nelson Mandela Bay Metro recorded R22 billion in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. Buffalo City Metro recorded R11.6 billion. Amathole District recorded R1.3 billion, OR Tambo District R1.1 billion, and Inxuba Yethemba R910 million. Despite this, more than R300 million in unspent infrastructure funds was returned to the National Treasury. This is an unforgivable betrayal of the people. A province drowning in unemployment and poverty is being robbed not only by corruption but by chronic incompetence. The UDM in the Eastern Cape holds Premier Oscar Mabuyane and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) MEC Zolile Williams politically responsible for the collapse of governance in the province. For years they have been warned about the dire state of municipalities but responded with empty plans and recycled rhetoric. MEC Williams himself has acknowledged that Nelson Mandela Bay accounts for over seventy percent of the province’s R30 billion in irregular expenditure, driven by evergreen contracts that he admits are criminal. Yet there is no visible action, no prosecutions, and no accountability. The rot runs deep. A captured CFO in Sundays River Valley inflated consultancy contracts from R4 million to R38 million. Evergreen contracts in Nelson Mandela Bay have become the feeding trough for politically connected service providers. State departments owe municipalities such as Nelson Mandela Bay more than R208 million in unpaid rates and service charges, proof that even government does not respect local government. It is shocking and unacceptable that national and provincial government departments owe municipalities more than R208 million in unpaid rates and service charges. These are not private companies or delinquent ratepayers. They are organs of the same state that lectures ordinary citizens about paying their municipal accounts. This failure by the state to pay what it owes is an act of internal sabotage. It cripples the very municipalities tasked with delivering water, electricity, sanitation and waste removal to communities. When government departments do not honour their obligations, they drain the lifeblood of local government, its revenue base, and accelerate the collapse of essential services. The UDM in the Eastern Cape finds this behaviour reprehensible and hypocritical. It exposes a culture of impunity within the ANC government where accountability is applied selectively. Citizens are threatened with disconnection for non-payment, while government institutions continue to consume services without consequence. This situation also shows the utter breakdown of intergovernmental cooperation in the Eastern Cape. The Premier and his MECs have allowed a crisis where the left hand of government starves the right. How can municipalities be expected to survive when the very departments that fund them are also their biggest debtors? The UDM in the Eastern Cape is deeply concerned by the recent remarks of Buffalo City Mayor Princess Faku, who told Parliament that her municipality is “neither dysfunctional nor cash-strapped.” This statement is misleading and irresponsible. Both the Provincial Treasury and the Auditor-General have confirmed that Buffalo City incurred R11.6 billion in irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and returned unspent infrastructure funds while residents continue to endure failing services. For a mayor to deny this reality shows disregard for the truth and for the daily struggles of the people she serves. It reflects the ANC’s entrenched culture of denial, where leaders protect their image instead of fixing what is broken. The UDM calls on Premier Mabuyane to act against Mayor Faku for misleading Parliament and the public. The people of Buffalo City deserve honesty, accountability and real solutions, not empty political theatre. As a partner in the Government of National Unity (GNU), the UDM in the Eastern Cape believes this crisis demands direct intervention by the National CoGTA Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa. The Minister must immediately: 1. Deploy a national intervention team to the seven municipalities on the brink of collapse, with powers to stabilise finances, strengthen governance, and halt corruption. 2. Oversee forensic investigations into the misuse of funds, fraudulent consultancy contracts, and the R30 billion evergreen contract scandal in Nelson Mandela Bay. 3. Ensure strict consequence management, including suspension and prosecution of accounting officers, councillors and mayors who enabled this rot. 4. Coordinate intergovernmental debt recovery, compelling all government departments to pay what they owe to municipalities. 5. Enforce public transparency and reporting, ensuring that all municipal recovery reports demanded by Parliament are made public within thirty days. 6. Work with National Treasury and the Department of Water and Sanitation to restore critical infrastructure and basic service delivery in the affected municipalities. 7. Hold Premier Mabuyane and MEC Williams politically accountable for years of failed oversight and negligence under their leadership. The UDM in the Eastern Cape also reminds the ANC, as a partner in the GNU, that it carries the greatest responsibility for this crisis. Its national leadership must urgently call its counterparts in the province and municipalities to order. The continued collapse of governance in the Eastern Cape is not just a local embarrassment; it undermines the credibility of the GNU’s commitment to clean, accountable and effective government. If the ANC is sincere about renewal, it must start by cleaning its own house in this province. For thirty-one years, the ANC has turned the Eastern Cape into a case study of corruption and decay. The people deserve better. They deserve leaders who act, not talk, who serve, not steal. The UDM in the Eastern Cape calls on all honest public servants, civil society and communities to rally behind the call for accountability and renewal.
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19 May, 2025
UDM welcomes the launch of the white paper review on local government
Statement by Yongama Zigebe, Councillor in the City of Johannesburg for the United Democratic Movement and Chairperson of the S79 Committee on Gender, Youth and People with Disabilities The United Democratic Movement (UDM) warmly welcomes the official launch of the Review of the 1998 White Paper on Local Government by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), under the leadership of Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa. This Review is long overdue and comes at a critical juncture in South Africa’s democratic journey. For years, local government has been the epicentre of governance failure - characterised by service delivery collapse, financial mismanagement, deepening inequality, and the erosion of public trust. The UDM has consistently raised these concerns across all spheres of government, and we are encouraged to see the Department finally initiating a reform process that seeks to address these structural and systemic shortcomings. We are particularly pleased that the Discussion Document for the Review does not shy away from confronting the hard truths. It acknowledges the challenges of over-politicisation, the disconnect between municipalities and their communities, the need for fiscal reform, and the growing threat of climate change on local infrastructure and service sustainability. However, the Review must go beyond diagnosis. It must offer a bold and implementable vision of what a fit-for-purpose, ethical, and citizen-responsive local government system should look like. This includes addressing areas not adequately covered in the Discussion Document, such as the rampant abuse of procurement and supply chain systems, the absence of a clear separation of powers within local municipalities, and the need to institutionalise participatory governance and oversight mechanisms. The UDM calls on all South Africans, community organisations, traditional leaders, youth, faith-based groups, business, labour, and academic institutions, to actively participate in this Review. It is only through inclusive and transparent engagement that we can rebuild municipalities that serve the people, not parties or elites. We remind all stakeholders that the deadline for written submissions on the White Paper Review is 30 June 2025. Submissions can be sent to WPLG26@cogta.gov.za or delivered to the Department’s offices as outlined in the official Government Gazette. Our presence at the Launch underscored the Movement’s commitment to constructive engagement on matters of governance and public accountability. As a party committed to accountable and developmental governance, the UDM will be making detailed submissions to this Review process. We believe that local government must be rescued from dysfunction and repositioned as the engine of grassroots development, social cohesion, and democratic renewal.
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02 May, 2025
Ongoing salary crisis in North West municipalities
Statement by Namhla Notshaya, Provincial Secretary of the UDM in North West The United Democratic Movement (UDM) in North West expresses its deep concern regarding the ongoing salary crisis affecting municipal workers across municipalities in the province. Recent reports indicate that many workers have faced significant delays in receiving their salaries. It has come to our attention that municipalities such as Ditsobotla, Mamusa, Maquassi Hills, and Lekwa-Teemane have consistently failed to meet their salary obligations, with some workers experiencing delays of more than two months. We stand in solidarity with the affected workers who have borne the consequences of these failures. While we recognise the importance of paying service providers, it is unacceptable to expect municipal workers to continue providing their labour without compensation. It is particularly troubling to hear accounts of workers being forced to borrow from loan sharks, leading them into a vicious cycle of debt. This crisis is a clear indication of poor financial management and governance at the municipal level, which must be addressed urgently. We urge the North West provincial government and municipal leadership to rectify this situation. Responsible governance should prioritise the welfare of municipal workers and ensure that their salaries are paid on time. The UDM in North West calls upon the provincial government to intervene in this crisis, ensuring that municipal workers receive their due salaries without further delay. The dignity and rights of workers must be upheld.
Admin
13 Jul, 2020
Is our healthcare system actually ready for President Ramaphosa’s coronavirus storm?
We listened attentively to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent announcements regarding stricter regulations governing our lives in the face of the exponential increase of Coronavirus infections in South Africa. The United Democratic Movement Youth Vanguard (UDMYV) has noted that the President couched this decision as being necessary to relieve the pressure on our healthcare system. An immediate ban on alcohol was also imposed, because of misbehaving citizens who land in hospital due to alcohol related injuries and this takes up much-needed bed space. What we do not understand is that Health Minister Zweli Mkhize was super confident that our healthcare system was ready to deal with an enemy that has felled first world countries’ healthcare systems. Now the President, in so many words, admitted that our healthcare system is in fact under severe pressure and is not ready, as there is, for instance, still a serious shortage of more than 12,000 health workers. We hear of hospitals that have no water, staff who receive substandard personal protective equipment, bulk Covid-19 infections of hospital staff and how fear and anxiety are causing panic among them. To make matters worse, we understand that analysis of the coronavirus’ genome sequence found a mutation, which makes the virus more infectious than the original strain; we better hope and pray this mutation does not happen in South Africa. The mysterious National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) and Cabinet are making and breaking as they please and never unpack their decisions satisfactorily. We therefore call on Parliament, as the oversight arm of the state that holds the executive to account, to investigate our healthcare system’s state of readiness. Who was speaking the truth when? Something is severely wrong here. Lastly, the UDMYV feels strongly that the NCCC must go back to the drawing board and eliminate some inequalities in their regulations. If children are forced to go back to school and risk coronavirus infection, Parliament must, with immediate effect, suspend its hybrid model of sitting, and all Members of Parliament must go back to their benches to work. We do not understand why it is different strokes for different folks. Where we do agree with the President is that we must unite in making sure that we win the fight against the coronavirus, it is indeed in our hands (quite literally) and no one will help us, except us. Let us spread the message to wear masks and wash hands and hold each other accountable, we need to be responsible not just for ourselves, but also for others; especially the frontline healthcare workers who daily put their lives on the line to take care of ours. Issued by: Mr Yongama Zigebe UDM Youth Vanguard
