THE safety of Councillors within the eThekwini Municipality has been made a priority ahead of next year’s local government elections.

 

EThekwini Municipal Speaker, Cllr James Nxumalo told the meeting of the Executive Committee at the ICC on Tuesday (30/11/10) that his office had received requests for security from several councillors who have received death threats. He said this was expected to get worse due to the jostling for positions in the run up to the polls.

Presently the Municipality does not have a policy to guide council on how to deal with the security of councillors.

 

EXCO mandated City Manager, Dr Michael Sutcliffe, Speaker Nxumalo and Mayor Obed Mlaba to urgently develop a policy on the provision of security to councillors. In the meantime an interim policy will be put in place in order to provide security to councillors already in distress.

Nxumalo said they’ve engaged the provincial Department of Community Safety and Liaison on the issue of councillor’s safety. "We have agreed with the province that when a councillor receives threats he or she will have to open a case with the police so that an investigation will be launched and have perpetrators arrested. We have also engaged the intelligence services so that all the claims will be investigated because we don’t want anyone to make false claims," Nxumalo said.

One of the suggestions made for inclusion in the policy is the activation of a rapid response unit that can respond to emergency situations.