Faeces smeared at special council meeting disrupt deputy mayoral elections

After 16 months of infighting within the ruling ANC, Cllr Dolly Govender was sworn in as KwaDukuza mayor last Thursday – the first woman to hold the post. 

Govender was the only candidate nominated for the position and was elected unopposed at a special council meeting held at the iLembe auditorium last week. 

However, the planned election of the deputy mayor on Tuesday this week was sabotaged, with human faeces found smeared over the entrance of the auditorium.

The special council meeting had to be moved to another venue.

The mayoral position became vacant following the general elections last year which saw the late Ricardo Mthembu step down from the position which he had held for 8 years, to serve as a member of the provincial legislature. He died in July from coronavirus. 

However, divisions within the ANC resulted in a prolonged delay to elect a replacement.

For close to 16 months the ANC has been plagued by factional fights within its ranks between supporters of council speaker Phumlile Zulu and chief whip Dumisane Nzimande.

ANC councillors have been deliberately staying away from council meetings to sabotage the election process.

Last week Speaker Zulu denied any councillor taking leave, to ensure a quorum for Govender’s election. 

While some ANC councillors remained defiant and took sick leave on the day, there were still enough to secure a quorum.

Govender will serve the remainder 11-month term until the 2021 municipal elections, which must be held between August 4 and November 1, 2021.

Having held the post of deputy mayor since 2011, Govender takes over the hot seat as the municipality is being investigated by the Special Investigative Unit for possible irregularities in PPE contracts.

In recent years the municipality has been plagued with irregular expenditure and has yet to receive a clean audit. 

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In her acceptance speech Govender said she was humbled by the appointment and pledged an open door policy, working together with all parties to ensure they serve the KwaDukuza community and resolve the municipality’s service delivery problems. 

“We need to work with mutual understanding, trust, honesty, integrity and being open and transparent will take the municipality to certain heights that we envisage for the future and working with the community who has mandated this leadership for service delivery. 

“As a ruling party we endeavour to deliver services in this difficult time of the pandemic, which has ravaged the world, not just our country. When I look at the challenges that are faced in all our communities – if you look at water, sanitation, housing – I think that is where the focus should be. As government, we need to look very seriously at how we can create jobs and how we can meet the demand for housing for our communities.”

Born and raised in KwaDukuza, the 73-year-old comes from a humble background and has faced her share of hardships which has made her empathetic to the plight of the poor.

The former store manager began her political career by working in her ward committee and progressing to become a PR councillor for Ward 19, a position she has held for 11 years.

She took up the position of deputy mayor in 2011 and was re-elected for a second term in 2016. 

The official opposition Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party both congratulated Govender on her appointment and pledged to support her. 

DA caucus leader Cllr MS Sing called on Govender to conduct council business in a transparent and accountable manner. 

“The DA pledged to work closely as long as basic service delivery was top of the agenda. As we come to the tail end of our term with local government elections looming next year there will be tensions and high demands for service delivery,” said Sing.

At Tuesday’s election of the deputy
mayor, after it had been moved to another
venue, former iLembe district speaker
Lucky Makhathini was elected unanimously.
He is seen as the choice of the provincial
leadership.