DURBAN - ANC branches in Howick have called on the three councillors whom they claimed cost the party uMngeni Municipality to step down.
According to ANC members who attended the meeting at Howick West Hall on Sunday, the decision was taken that former speaker Thulani Mthalane, Zine Dlamini and Slungiso Buthelezi must vacate their seats immediately or the party must recall them.
The members alleged the three councillors caused the ANC to lose power to the DA in the recent local government elections by supporting and protecting the suspended municipal manager Thembeka Cibane who was suspected of corruption. Cibane was eventually suspended after the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) released a report which implicated her in siphoning municipality funds through irregularly awarded Covid-19 relief tenders.
An ANC member, who asked not to be named, told the Daily News on Tuesday that branches were angry and wanted the three councillors out. He said their anger was also fuelled by the appointment of Mthalane and Dlamini to sit on the executive committee (Exco).
“We wonder how the regional task team appointed the people who caused us to lose the municipality, to the Exco. Branches want them to voluntarily resign for the sake of stability in the branches they lead. They were always supporting the suspended municipal manager when we raised corruption issues against her,” said an ANC member.
All three councillors said they were not aware of the calls to vacate their seats. They are ward councillors, which means that should they heed the call to resign, by-elections would have to be held in their wards. The DA snatched the municipality by winning 13 seats, followed by ANC with three, while EFF received two seats.
The SIU report that was released in July, which was seen by the Daily News, found that Cibane squandered close to R20 million by cooking council resolutions and forging a signature which she submitted to Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) which approved the use of funds for Covid-19 alleviation projects. The SIU also found that no council meeting took place, and therefore the council did not approve the budget. After the outbreak of Covid-19, Cogta had issued an order to all municipalities to divert funds from their budgets to assist communities which were affected by the pandemic. The order stipulated that the council should produce a plan on how it would use the funds, and table the plan to the full council for approval and send a resolution to Cogta.
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