ActionSA’s eThekwini mayoral candidate Zwakele Mncwango says competition for municipal contracts can fuel political violence, following the killing of two ANC campaigners in Umgababa.
He said that stronger oversight and ethical leadership was needed to prevent public institutions from becoming vehicles for personal gain
His comments come after the killing of ANC election coordinator Lungani Makhathini and campaign volunteer Nokuthula Mavundla who were shot dead during a door-to-door campaign in Umgababa, Ward 98, on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast last week.
Siminenkosi Ndlovu from Moses Mabhida region was wounded and hospitalised.
While the motive for the attack has not yet been established, Mncwango said that the struggle for political positions could become dangerous when access to municipal budgets, procurement
processes and tenders were viewed as a route to wealth and influence.
He believes councillors must understand their legal and ethical responsibilities and that oversight mechanisms should prevent elected representatives from interfering in tender processes and
budget allocations.
Mncwango said the eThekwini municipality needed a fundamental change in how it was governed, with stronger financial controls, transparent decision-making and leaders who put resident’s interests ahead of personal or political gain.
At 46, Mncwango, a father of three and a PR councillor with more than 15 years of experience in the eThekwini region, said the challenges facing the municipality extended beyond deteriorating
infrastructure and persistent service delivery problems.
He said that weak accountability and failures in the management of public resources had allowed governance problems to become entrenched in South Africa’s second-largest metropolitan municipality.
From rural roots to City Hall
Mncwango’s told the dailynews.co.za that his political outlook was shaped by his journey from rural KwaZulu-Natal to university, international governance programmes and more than 15 years in municipal politics.
The youngest of 18 siblings in a polygamous family in kwaNongoma, he described his upbringing as one grounded in farming, communal responsibility and ubuntu.
He was the first member of his family to attend university, an achievement that exposed him to opportunities beyond his rural upbringing while reinforcing his belief in education and collective responsibility.
“I joined public service because I felt it does not help when people who are educated run away from making decisions. We have allowed mediocrity to run the country. We have allowed people who do not even have matric to run the country and make decisions. I wanted to be part of the solution rather than complaining. I decided to be involved rather than complain,” Mncwango said.
He added those experiences informed his argument that the municipality needed leaders who understood the challenges facing communities while possessing the technical knowledge and ethical grounding required to manage a complex metropolitan government.
Restoring accountability and ethical leadership
At the centre of Mncwango’s political argument is the need for transparent and accountable governance.
His interest in the subject extends beyond political criticism. During his studies towards a Master of Business Administration at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, he researched corporate governance in eThekwini, examining mechanisms intended to ensure accountability and transparency within the municipality.
He questions why the city continues to struggle to achieve clean audits despite having oversight structures and committees.
For Mncwango, the problem is not necessarily the absence of policies or governance mechanisms, but whether they are enforced effectively and whether officials and political leaders face consequences when things go wrong.
He said municipal leadership should go beyond identifying problems to understanding their underlying causes.
This, he said, required evidence-based decision-making, stronger oversight and a willingness to confront practices that undermine public trust.
He believes those entrusted with managing public resources must demonstrate that municipal money is spent lawfully, efficiently and in residents’ interests.
His position also informs his concerns about political killings. He argues that elected representatives must not be allowed to use their positions to influence procurement or access to public funds, while oversight institutions must ensure that political office is not exploited for private gain.
Raising the standard of municipal leadership
Mncwango’s educational journey is central to his view of effective leadership.
He studied electrical engineering before pursuing management studies at the Durban University of Technology and completing an MBA at UKZN. He also participated in governance programmes in Germany and the United States, experiences that exposed him to different approaches to public administration and institutional management.
Having served on council while pursuing postgraduate studies and spent much of his political career working on finance and infrastructure matters, he believes governing a major metropolitan
municipality requires more than political experience alone.
He said that formal qualifications and practical experience were important for leaders responsible for overseeing complex budgets, infrastructure networks, procurement systems and service delivery operations.
He has advocated for a higher educational threshold for mayors of major metropolitan municipalities, suggesting that a degree should be the minimum standard.
His argument is that leaders should be equipped to interrogate technical and financial
information, understand the implications of policy decisions and draw on research and
international best practice when developing solutions.
The proposal raises broader questions about the qualifications expected of elected leaders,
particularly in municipalities where governance failures have significant consequences for
residents and the local economy.
For Mncwango, political leadership must be supported by the competence to understand problems before promising to solve them.
Tackling municipal debt and financial waste
Mncwango identifies eThekwini’s financial position as one of the clearest indications of the need for a different approach to governance.
He cited approximately R49 billion in outstanding consumer debt, including about R1.2 billion owed by government entities. He also questioned the sustainability of the municipality continuing to borrow billions of rand while struggling to recover money owed for services.
He said that the city could not sustainably fund infrastructure and improve services if it fails to collect revenue from consumers who can afford to pay.
His proposed approach includes consistent enforcement of payment policies, including against government departments, alongside more effective billing and revenue collection.
Mncwango maintains that enforcement should be applied fairly, rather than allowing certain categories of consumers to escape consequences while other residents are expected to meet its
obligations.
He also advocates employing dedicated meter readers to reduce reliance on estimated billing, which can contribute to disputes between the municipality and consumers.
However, his position goes beyond recovering outstanding revenue. He believes the city must also examine how money is spent, particularly where procurement practices and outsourced
services create opportunities for inflated costs and wasteful expenditure.
For him, improving municipal finances requires both stronger revenue collection and greater discipline in spending.
He said that tighter controls over public money could also help reduce the incentives for political interference in municipal procurement and the pursuit of elected office for financial gain.
Ending costly outsourcing and rebuilding municipal capacity
One of Mncwango’s strongest criticisms is directed at eThekwini’s reliance on external contractors to perform functions he believes the municipality should be able to manage internally.
He said outsourcing services such as maintenance, plumbing, electrical work, cleaning and security could create unnecessary costs, weaken institutional capacity and make accountability more difficult.
He also questioned procurement practices in which middlemen allegedly inflated the cost of basic supplies.
He said officials should be empowered to purchase directly from manufacturers where procurement rules permitted.
His preferred solution was greater insourcing, with the municipality employing and managing its own workers for essential functions.
He proposed establishing an internal maintenance team available around the clock to respond to infrastructure problems, with water leaks addressed within 48 hours.
“If we have our own staff as the municipality, we are able to hold them accountable and they can act urgently. Their senior managers have KPIs to ensure the situation is handled with utmost
urgency, but eThekwini is currently relying on people who do not necessarily account to the city,” he said.
Mncwango also wants measures introduced to prevent monopolistic practices and ensure that contractors are held accountable for their performance.
He added the municipality should rebuild its internal capacity, reduce unnecessary dependence on contractors and strengthen its control over essential services.
Fixing water losses and improving service delivery
Water remains one of the most pressing tests of municipal governance, particularly as residents continue to experience shortages and disruptions.
Mncwango cited a non-revenue water loss rate of approximately 60%, arguing that the municipality is losing substantial quantities of treated water before it can generate revenue from its distribution.
He attributed much of the problem to municipal management failures and inadequate maintenance, rather than treating it solely as an infrastructure challenge.
His proposed interventions include employing permanent technical staff, improving the accuracy of water meter readings and creating an internal maintenance operation capable of responding quickly to leaks.
He believes a 24-hour maintenance team could help the city identify and repair faults sooner, reduce water losses and improve the reliability of supply.
He said that money lost through inefficiency and unnecessary expenditure could be better directed towards maintaining infrastructure and improving services.
His proposals place greater responsibility on the municipality to respond to residents’ needs while ensuring that technical staff and senior managers are held accountable for their performance.
The leadership challenge ahead
Mncwango’s case for the mayoral position rests on the argument that eThekwini’s challenges require more than promises of improved service delivery. He wants a municipality that collects revenue more effectively, spends public money responsibly, rebuilds its technical capacity and holds political leaders and officials accountable.
His concerns about political killings add another dimension to that argument, that public office must not become a gateway to personal gain and that weak oversight can have consequences
extending beyond municipal finances and service delivery.
However, the extent to which his proposals would address the city’s governance failures will depend on how they are implemented, funded and enforced.
As the 2026 local government elections approach, Mncwango is presenting himself as a candidate whose experience in council, academic background and criticism of existing municipal practices equip him to pursue a different approach to governing eThekwini.