DURBAN - FORMER uMngeni Municipality deputy mayor Nompumelelo Buthelezi said she had to leave the ANC to save herself and her family from being killed.
Buthelezi resigned from the ANC on the eve of the local government elections and joined the DA. Speaking to the Daily News on Friday, Buthelezi blamed the ANC regional leadership for not attending to problems she had been facing in the organisation since 2018.
She said her problems started when her branch was disbanded and the ANC branch task team accused her of not accepting this. She was branch secretary in ward 2.
Buthelezi claimed she had reported her problems to the regional and provincial leadership several times but no one wanted to listen to her and the situation became worse when she started receiving death threats. She said she was forced to leave her home because she felt unsafe there.
“I had to choose between leaving the ANC and death and I chose to leave to save my life. My family was also threatened and I realised that it was time for me to leave the organisation of my birth,” Buthelezi said.
In a letter she wrote to the provincial and national leadership she blamed the regional task team (RTT) for failing to address her problems with the branch.
“After the disbandment of the branch structure in 2018, I did not find peace. Leadership treated me like dirt and I reported several times to comrade Mandla Zondi and would sometimes send him WhatsApp messages from the branch comrades to me. He kept on promising to intervene but nothing ever happened,” read the letter.
Buthelezi further defended her decision to join the DA, saying there were many community projects she was still involved in, adding that for those projects to be successful she needed political support. Further, she said she was impressed with the DA manifesto for the people of uMngeni.
Zondi dismissed the former deputy mayor’s accusation, saying it was Buthelezi who refused to recognise the new branch leadership after losing the contest. On the death threats, Zondi said Buthelezi had insulted branch members on social networks.
RTT convener Thulani Xulu dismissed Buthelezi’s accusations that they failed to intervene, saying he held more than 10 meetings with her and the branch leaders to try and resolve problems. Xulu said one of the reasons why the problems were not resolved was because people put “personalities” ahead of those who had elected them.
“It is not true that we did not intervene in her matter. We tried our best but comrades could not find each other. Another thing which could have caused Buthelezi to leave and join the DA was because she was not on the list of returning councillors,” Xulu said.
Daily News