En masse leave of absence by African National Congress (ANC) councillors in KwaDukuza has forced the postponement of the municipality’s first council meeting after the November 1 local government elections.
The official constitution of KwaDukuza Municipality’s (KDM) 5th council was scheduled for Tuesday, during which the mayor, deputy mayor, speaker and executive committee were to be announced and councillors inducted.
The meeting date was confirmed by municipal manager Nhlanhla Mdakane last Friday when he met informally with incoming councillors.
“The municipal manager indicated councillors not available on the day had to submit leave forms, but if the council has not been constituted, who is putting in leave?” asked Democratic Alliance (DA) caucus leader and ward 6 councillor, Tammy Colley.
The council meeting was postponed less than 24 hours before it was due to begin, at around 3pm on Monday. The reason given was that there would not be a quorum because of ongoing coalition talks nationally and within the municipality. But this has been disputed by the 3 biggest opposition parties, the DA, Independent Alliance (IA) and ActionSA.
“The 8 opposition parties in KwaDukuza have been in coalition talks over the past week and good progress was made. “
We have met with local representatives of each party, with the exception of the African Transformation Movement and African Independent Congress, whose provincial leadership have been in contact with us.
“We certainly believe a quorum would have been achieved if the meeting was held,” said IA chairperson, Melisizwe Ntleko.
KwaDukuza has 59 council seats, 29 of which are held by the ANC. The remaining 30 are split between 8 opposition parties. Thirty councillors in attendance would have constituted a quorum, meaning the meeting could legally have been held.
Municipal spokesperson Sipho Mkhize, however, said 3 parties had written to the municipal manager requesting leave of absence because of ongoing coalition talks.
He did not indicate which parties did so, but the ANC had to be one of them given that they are the only party with enough seats to deny a quorum if joined by another party.
Asked whether coalition talks may be offered as a reason to suspend an official council meeting, Mkhize said given the circumstances, it was.
“Its a genuine conflict if the national and provincial leadership of the parties involved have not come to an agreement. ‘If the council meeting continued, it would have been regarded as wasteful expenditure.
KDM has been proactive in planning a council meeting this early. There is still enough time to constitute the municipality legally as November 23 is the deadline.”
ActionSA proportional representative councillor Nel Sewraj, said there might be more at play behind the scenes.
“I was flabbergasted when the meeting was postponed. Without a speaker, the municipal manager runs the council and has to follow the rules.
“As no indication from any opposition party that anyone would request leave of absence, so why has it been postponed?
“We want copies of the official leave forms submitted so we can determine exactly how this happened, failing which it should be grounds for disciplinary action against the municipal manager.”
The municipal manager, Nhlanhla Mdakane, recently had his term extended by council by 9 months, although this is still to be ratified by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta).
Mdakane was appointed to the post in 2014.
“The ANC must stop dictating to municipal officials and let them get on with the job they are employed to do,” said Colley.
The IA and ActionSA were both in KwaDukuza on Tuesday to protest the postponement and determine who had requested leave of absence.
No new date for a council meeting has been announced yet, but the deadline for final coalition agreements is tomorrow (Thursday).
Councils must then meet by November 23 as mandated by Cogta, failing which municipalities will have to hold by-elections.
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