Durban - The ANC in the Mzala Nxumalo region (Zululand district) says it is worried by the ongoing political and administrative paralysis at Abaqulusi (Vryheid) municipality in northern KZN, saying the paralysis is hindering service delivery.
The party's regional secretary, Zakhele Buthelezi, told Independent Media on the sidelines of the ongoing KZN ANC's provincial executive committee meeting in Durban on Monday that the municipality's 2019-2020 budget has not been signed off as a result of the paralysis.
He said the town of Vryheid was in the economic hub of the Zululand district and the paralysis should come to an end as the ANC they are working to rescue the council by electing a mayor from his party's ranks.
The woes of the municipality worsened last month when the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) which is governing the council through a coalition with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), fired the mayor, Jerry Sibiya. Before that, Buthelezi said, the municipality was already limping as the council does not have a municipal manager (MM) after Bonga Ntanzi, was accused of corruption and suspended.
"The MM is suspended on corruption charges, there is no technical director as the previous one was fired in March and the council does not have a community services director after the previous one resigned over qualifications issues. The municipality is down and out... There is a paralysis in the municipality and service delivery is affected, Buthelezi said, adding that the situation is saved by the fact that there is an administrator who can take decision when there is a stalemate.
He said they now want to take over but was very coy about their mayoral candidate and how are they going to snatch the council from the IFP as they have 22 councillors and the IFP coalition has also got 22 councillors.
"We want to take over the running of the municipality, fix the mess by hiring the rightly qualified people to stabilise the municipality."
Buthelezi said they have already tabled a motion to put the matter of voting a new mayor to power to the speaker. The matter is now with the office of the speaker who has to set a date.