EFF moves to discipline two councillors of Umhlathuze it accuses of voting against party line at council sittings

The EFF has taken two of its councillors to task. Picture: Timothy Bernard African News Agency (ANA) Archives

The EFF has taken two of its councillors to task. Picture: Timothy Bernard African News Agency (ANA) Archives

Published Mar 29, 2023

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Durban – The EFF in KwaZulu-Natal has written to two of its councillors in the City of Umhlathuze (Richards Bay-eMpangeni), asking to plead their case on why they should not be suspended from the party.

The party is accusing the two councillors (who cannot be named for security reasons) of voting against their caucus during council sittings.

The latest developments in Richards Bay come a day after two councillors of the EFF in the Abalusi (Vryheid) local municipality dumped the party and joined the IFP.

In their exodus, they were joined by other leaders of the EFF in the Zululand region and they came from areas like Pongola, Vryheid and Mahlabathini in Ulundi.

In one letter seen by IOL and directed to one of the two female councillors, the party accuses her of attending a council meeting allegedly drunk.

“You attended a council meeting at uMhlathuze Municipality under the influence of alcohol, which means that you conducted yourself in a manner that have a potential of bringing the organisation into disrepute.”

In the same letter, the party accused the councillor of defying their caucus and not voting according to their directive.

“It is further reported that you voted against the Economic Freedom Fighters Caucus, which means that you conducted yourself in a manner which is outside the prescripts and dictates of organisational code of conduct and discipline,” reads the letter.

It is not clear which council matter was being voted upon when they allegedly defied their party.

However, it is known that the EFF now votes with the ANC in the municipality after the wobbly end of its coalition pact with the IFP (Inkatha Freedom Party) in January this year.

The allegations faced by the other female councillor are not yet known. However, she was served with an almost similar letter on 24 March 2023 and she was given 24 hours to state her case.

The spokesperson of the EFF in KwaZulu-Natal, confirmed that they had served one of their councillors with such a letter and the matter was still under consideration.

“This is a normal internal process that the organisation embarks on when there are serious allegations of misconduct against any member of the organisation.

“Fighter Philile… was written to by the provincial secretary and asked to give responses on the serious allegations of misconduct that were levelled against her.

“She responded and denied the allegations.

“The matter is now sitting with the office of the provincial secretary for further investigation and determination to establish whether it warrants further disciplinary process or if her responses were sufficient.

“The organisation takes matters of discipline very seriously and any violation of our revolutionary code of conduct is not taken lightly.

“So as it stands, no action has been taken against her as the internal process is still under way,” Blose said.

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