Durban — Abantu Batho Congress (ABC) founder Philani Mavundla has given the municipal manager of uMvoti Local Municipality, Noxolo Ndaba, two days to call a special council meeting to debate a motion of no confidence against the IFP leadership.
The ABC’s letter was written on Thursday but the manager did not attend the special meeting she had purportedly called.
In the letter, penned by ABC whip councillor Lindokuhle Zondi, Ndaba was accused of being disingenuous when she denied any knowledge of the meeting and reminded her that she was sent a copy of a letter on March 16 where the majority of the councillors had requested the speaker to call a meeting.
Zondi added that a notice was subsequently placed on the council’s website and was also advertised in the Greytown Gazette.
“Since the meeting that you called which was requested by the majority of the councillors failed to proceed, although there were 16 councillors, we hereby demand that a meeting be called by yourself to comply with clause 29 (1A) of the Municipal Structures Act as well as clause 7(3) © of the uMvoti Council standing rules and orders. We bring to your attention Rule 6(2)(b) of the standing orders to be complied with by issuing a notice for a meeting within the next two days followed by the sitting of the special council meeting in compliance with Section 7(2) and 7(1)(b) which should not be later than 29 March 2023,” the letter read.
The ABC further warned the manager that should she fail to call this meeting, the party would be left with no choice but to call for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Bongi Sithole-Moloi’s office to intervene. Under normal circumstances if the speaker and municipal manager have both failed to sit the council meeting for whatever reason, the Cogta MEC can appoint an official from her department to call and chair the meeting.
If the meeting were to sit next week, as ABC has demanded, ousting of IFP looks inevitable given the seats occupied by ANC and ABC combined. In the 25-seat council, IFP has nine followed by ANC with eight, while ABC comes third with seven. The DA has one seat.
After the last local government elections the ABC chose to work with the IFP. The agreement was made before Mavundla struck a deal with the ANC in eThekwini therefore he allowed his councillors to make their own choice and they chose IFP rather than ANC.
After leaving eThekwini Municipality, Mavundla returned to uMvoti as a councillor.
Municipality spokesperson Phindile Phungula said the manager was not aware of last week’s meeting and had launched an investigation as to how the notice was advertised on the council website and in the media without her knowledge.
Of the letter of demands by the ABC, Phungula said she would speak to the manager and would respond later but at the time of the publishing she had not responded.
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Daily News