With just one day to go before the deadline for local municipalities to conclude the inaugurations of new councils, Newcastle Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal is still without official leadership.
DA constituency leader for the Amajuba District, Dr Imran Keeka, on Monday posted a photograph on Facebook showing the opposition seats in the Newcastle Town Hall filled to capacity, with the ANC benches empty. “Chaos at inaugural meeting of council with ANC not present, there no quorum. No meeting will take place,” he captioned the photograph. Outside the town hall, meanwhile, individuals dressed in ANC regalia danced and sang, reportedly preventing incoming councillors from entering the hall.
The Newcastle Advertiser reported on Monday that “members of the public” were barred from entering the hall by municipal security forces and published photographs of the picketers wearing ANC shirts.
“The DA condemns the actions of the ANC in Amajuba which have clearly shown that it has put itself first yet again,” Keeka said on Monday afternoon.
“Their infighting and factional battles have yet again spilt onto the streets, this time stopping the formation of a municipal government.”
According to Keeka, the ANC in the Amajuba region has had “long standing internal issues”, saying the area had become a hotspot for politically-motivated killings. “The ANC’s regional leadership needs to step up and take responsibility for Monday’s failure to convene the meeting which effectively leaves the town without a mayor and executive council.
“This will no doubt have a serious impact on municipal service delivery. At the very first attempt to sit as a council, they have caused fruitless and wasteful expenditure and taken Newcastle backwards,” Keeka said, referring to reports that caterers had readied meals for 1 000 people.
Ntokozo Mhlungu, Emalahleni ANC Regional Secretary, meanwhile, said the postponement of the council meeting and internal tension in the ANC were two separate issues.
“It is true that the council meeting was postponed yesterday. The municipal manager was given authority to reconvene the meeting,” Mhlungu said on Tuesday.
“As the ANC we understand that we are the majority party in that municipality, we felt it was going to be unfair if the rights of the minority parties are not being taken into consideration as there were some parties, for reasons known to them, were not present.
“We then felt that the council could not proceed on that basis,” he said. Mhlungu denied reports that any councillors were barred from entering the town hall but confirmed that internal issues within the ANC were “a work in progress”.
“The issue of the postponement of the council and tensions within the ANC are two separate things,” he said.
Mhlungu went on to say that people picketing outside the Newcastle town hall had communicated with officials that they were not there as members of the ANC, but rather representing the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco).
While the DA has called on the MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, to intervene, no indication has been given if the council meeting will take place before the deadline on Wednesday.
African News Agency