Durban - In the latest round in the tug of war between the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the Umkhanyakude District Municipality, the latter has announced that it has suspended the acting municipal manager, Dr Siyabonga Ntuli.
In a statement on Monday, the new IFP mayor, Tim Moodley, said Ntuli had been replaced by Mxolisi Nkosi who will hold the fort for a period of three months.
“In addition to that, the council suspended with immediate effect the former acting municipal manager Dr S.R Ntuli and replaced him with Mr M.A Nkosi who has been appointed to act as the municipal manager for a period not exceeding three months,” Moodley announced.
The district municipality which is anchored in the farming town of Mkuze in KwaZulu-Natal’s far north, has been in turmoil for over two weeks now.
It started on May 3 when the IFP claimed to have ousted Siphile Mdaka and his deputy Zodwa Mtshali (of the NFP) and speaker Solomon Mkhombo, through a vote of no confidence.
However, Mdaka and Mkhombo insisted that the council meeting where they were ousted was illegal and decisions taken were not binding, hence they were still in office.
"I am still the mayor of the district. What happened today was illegal and in violation of all laws governing local governments," Mdaka told the Daily News last week.
Mkhombo also echoed his sentiments. He added that the IFP must know that all the decisions that were taken during the disputed council meeting “amount to zero”.
“S (Siphile) Mdaka is still the mayor, Z (Zodwa) Mtshali is still the deputy mayor, and I am still the speaker of the council.”
However, the IFP is having none of it, with Moodley even challenging the ANC to go to court if it felt the meeting was unconstitutional.
“We would like to assure the community of Umkhanyakude district that this is the only leadership that is currently within the municipality and any other stories that are circulating on social media are false and devoid of any truth.
“South Africa is a democratic dispensation, if anyone is not happy with the outcome of the meeting that took place on the 3rd of May 2022 they are more than free to take the matter to the high court for a review,” Moodley said in a statement.
In November last year, the ANC won the municipality but the IFP claimed it was cheated out of three councillors in the Mtubatuba Local Municipality.
On April 19 this year, the Pietermaritzburg High Court ruled in favour of the IFP which then sent three councillors to the district, thus making it the majority party. However, the ANC is now disputing the legitimacy of the May 3 council sitting that ousted it from power.
Hence there is a dispute about who is in charge of the district municipality right now.
Daily News