DURBAN - THE IFP in the uMkhanyakude Municipality has vowed to boycott a council meeting on Tuesday after learning that its motions were not included on the agenda.
According to ANC speaker Thokozani Ngema, the meeting was scheduled for 2pm and there were no IFP items.
Ngema said the meeting was a continuation of last week’s meeting which was disrupted by contract workers who had not been paid.
He confirmed that no IFP items were on the agenda and said the only motion that would be debated and voted for Tuesday was a vote of no confidence against IFP mayor Tim Moodley.
Ngema said he had received IFP items but these would only be discussed at the next meeting.
IFP caucus leader Makhosonke Sithole vowed that a meeting would not take place without the IFP’s items on the agenda.
The party had filed a motion of no confidence against the speaker in last week’s failed meeting, and a further two items calling for the municipality to deal with forensic reports apparently containing allegations against former mayor Solomon Mkhondo and another ANC councillor.
“We are going to boycott it, and I doubt it would continue without us because they would need enough councillors for a meeting to meet the quorum.”
Sithole said that even if the quorum was met, the IFP would not regard it as legitimate because it was not properly convened, and that as the leader of the caucus he was supposed to be formally notified of Tuesday’s meeting, but this had not happened.
Sithole said the party was planning to go to court to force the council to table the forensic report, which was completed last year.
The report stemmed from an investigation undertaken after Mkhondo was accused of using a municipal diesel card to fuel his personal trucks.
“We cannot allow Mkhondo to return to the mayoral position while this cloud hangs over his head,” said Sithole.
Tuesday’s meeting would be the fifth sitting without success, should the IFP’s efforts to boycott it be successful.
The previous meetings were disrupted due to ongoing battles between the ANC and IFP over various issues in the municipality.
One of them was the removal of R135 million from the municipality's main account, which was apparently moved without the knowledge and approval of municipal manager Mxolisi Nkosi, who previously confirmed this to the Daily News.
The ANC is the majority party with 16 seats, followed by the IFP with 14, while the EFF has one seat.
Daily News