ANC: We don’t know who spoiled Gumede votes

eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede is inaugurated at the Durban City Hall. With her are Premier Willies Mchunu and Nomusa Dube-Ncube. Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng

eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede is inaugurated at the Durban City Hall. With her are Premier Willies Mchunu and Nomusa Dube-Ncube. Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng

Published Aug 24, 2016

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Durban - The ANC in eThekwini has downplayed the failure of two of its councillors to vote for Zandile Gumede as mayor on Tuesday.

The party insisted the overall vote Gumede polled could be translated to 99% support from the ruling party’s caucus.

Gumede polled 124 votes in a contest against the DA’s Zwakele Mncwango.

Mncwango got 87 votes and three votes were declared spoilt.

Gumede got fewer votes than her colleagues who successfully contested other senior council positions.

“It is a strong support. We don’t know who spoiled the ballots. Some (councillors) are old,” regional secretary, Bheki Ntuli, said.

“If you look at the votes, she received 124 out of 126 ANC votes. That is a 99% vote,” he said.

Ntuli said: “We would be worried if the margin was big. Our councillors showed strong discipline in voting for the mayor.”

In other contested positions, Gumede’s colleagues fared much better because they got votes from either the opposition parties or independents.

Lekgoa Mapena polled 131 votes to become Speaker against the DA’s Warren Burne’s 80 votes. There were five spoilt votes.

In the deputy mayor position, Fawzia Peer won 134 votes, the DA’s Sharon Hoosen 81 and there were two spoilt ballots.

Nelisiwe Nyanisa garnered 132 votes to become Chief Whip when she contested against the DA’s Nicole Graham, who collected 82 votes, with three spoilt ballots recorded.

In the contest for ethics chairman, Richard Hlophe won 132 votes, Sithembiso Ngema 80 and there was one spoilt ballot.

Thabani Luthuli polled 131 votes to become chairman of the municipal accounts committee against 81 obtained by a DA councillor, and one spoilt ballot recorded.

Meanwhile, the Gumede-led executive committee has 12 councillors from ANC, DA and IFP. Also serving on the Exco are Peer, Mapena, Nyanisa, Sipho Kaunda, Barbara Fontein and Zama Sokhabase of the ruling party.

The DA is represented by Mncwango, Sharon Hoosen and Heinz de Boer. The IFP is represented by Mdu Nkosi.

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