Monday was a good day for Durban Mayor Obed Mlaba, with his council giving the go-ahead to a pet project, the R263-million new soccer stadium at King's Park, as well as granting his request for a R185 000 upgrade to the mayoral vehicle and the hiring of public relations consultants at a cost of R112 000 a month.
The council also approved the appointment of African National Congress provincial parliament member Mr Felix Dlamini as municipal manager and a proposal to change the name of the council to eThekwini.
While Mlaba welcomed the council's go-ahead for the stadium, saying it would form the centrepiece for a revival of the game in Durban, the Democratic Alliance (DA), which voted against the plan, said spending on this and other "luxury" items was a slap in the face for city residents who faced an unprecedented 29% increase in their water bills.
R13.8 million for the stadium project will be found by identifying savings in the current year's budget. The council will then budget R11.25 million a year until 2015, compounded at 8.5% a year.
The South African Football Association (Safa) will lease the stadium from the council for a nominal R100 a year. The project is subject to final approval by Safa KwaZulu-Natal's bankers of a R155-million loan.
Mlaba said consultation with the local business sector had shown there was widespread support for the project.
The stadium would complement rather than squeeze out other planned sporting developments in the area, he said.
Council approval for the stadium came at the tail end of a marathon meeting in which councillors spent almost as much time arguing over perceived personal affronts as the items on the agenda. The most fiercely debated item was a proposal to hire public relations consultants for the mayor and speaker's office for a whopping R112 000 a month .
The ANC and its Minority Front (MF) ally brushed aside concerns from the Inkatha Freedom Party and DA that the plumb contract had not been put out to tender, giving it to Wozani, a collaboration between two local consulting firms, Andrzej Kiepiela and Associates and Linda Zama Management Consultancy.
It was the most expensive of the three firms approached for the six-month trial period, quoting R82 600 more a month than the lowest bidder, Vulindlela and R27 800 more a month than Development Interface.
In a farcical twist, the ANC first pushed through an amendment which would have allowed it to negotiate a more favourable deal from Wozani and, then, realising this would allow the DA and IFP to bring the matter back to council at a later date, pushed through a further amendment rescinding its first amendment.
Mr Peter Corbett of the DA charged that the proposal amounted to giving the ANC more than R1-million a year to gear up for its 2005 election campaign. But the MF's Mr Visvin Reddy said it would give the mayor and speaker much-needed resources to counter negative publicity from "certain sectors of the media widely perceived to be controlled by the DA".
Allegations that Reddy, who is chairman of the tender and contacts committee, tried to solicit a free weekend from a hotel will be investigated by a multi-party committee.
A proposal to upgrade the mayoral 4x4 vehicle from a R371 000 Toyota Prado to a R556 000 Landcruiser prompted further DA criticism. The DA was also outvoted when it opposed a proposal to change the name of the council to the eThekwini Council.