News24.com | Durban mayor denies spending festive season in Cape Town

eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.

• Durban Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has denied spending his December holidays in Cape Town, and has lashed out at his detractors and vowed to take them to task.
• ActionSA in eThekwini metro said Kaunda was allegedly holidaying in Cape Town during the December break.
• Kaunda said he took the allegations seriously and demanded an apology and retraction.

Durban Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has denied spending the December holidays in Cape Town, saying that both a satire piece and accusations from opposition party ActionSA were mischievous and misleading.

"While I respect media freedom and journalistic creativity designed for interesting reading, I vehemently object to deliberately misleading the public in the name of satire. This is tantamount to abuse of power by the media as they influence public discourse," Kaunda said on Tuesday.

He said the past weekend's publication by Hogarth in the Sunday Times claimed that: "Kaunda went on holiday without a care in the world – in Cape Town." 

Kaunda said that while the Mother City was "blessed with natural beauty like most of our beautiful country", he never "set foot" in Cape Town during the festive season.

READ | eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda splashed about in Durban's E. coli waters, according to readings

"For a newspaper to print factually incorrect reports suggests that both Hogarth and the Sunday Times are influenced by a certain bias and are pushing a political agenda. The same Hogarth said I was booked for gigs in December, which was false."

Kaunda added:

Kaunda said satire couldn't be used to "mask deliberate peddling of lies and spreading of misinformation".  

Following the column, ActionSA KwaZulu-Natal leader Zwakele Mncwango on Tuesday attacked Kaunda over the state of Durban's beaches.

"eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, allegedly enjoyed his last festive season holidays at Cape Town beaches, while allowing holidaymakers to swim in E. coli infested beaches in eThekwini."

Mncwango was scathing in his attack on Kaunda, saying that in an attempt to keep tourists and the public at eThekwini beaches, the mayor openly misled the public into believing that E. coli levels were at an acceptable level in Durban beaches.

"He said it was 'safe' for public use, while he cooled off in Cape Town. Not only is this shocking, but it is also very telling and creates the impression that the eThekwini beaches remain contaminated by untreated effluent and are indeed not safe for beachgoers if the city's own mayor chose to flee this coastline to enjoy another."

READ | eThekwini mayor ditches suits for spandex to prove water is safe

Already poorly maintained and aged infrastructure was further damaged in April 2022 when devastating flooding swept across the province.

Durban was the most affected with hundreds reported dead and, nine months later, many still missing. Kaunda and officials in the city were criticised for their slow response to the disaster.

Thousands also languished in appalling conditions in community halls and shelters for the better part of 2022 before being placed in temporary homes shortly before Christmas.

Kaunda has demanded an apology from Sunday Times and said he wants a retraction from "all those who have peddled these lies including ActionSA Leader in KwaZulu-Natal, Zwakele Mncwango".