The proposed vote of no confidence against the leadership of Maphumulo municipality had to be postponed after councillors disrupted the meeting last Friday.
Maphumulo, one of iLembe District’s four constituent municipalities, was the only one not won by the African National Congress (ANC) in the 2021 local government elections, and has been run by an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Independent Alliance (IA) coalition ever since.
The 23 seat council is made up of 11 ANC, 10 IFP, 1 EFF and 1 IA seats.
Since the opposition ANC first submitted the motion against the mayor and speaker last October, national party allegiances have changed, with the ANC now trialing informal coalitions with the EFF countrywide.
First, a Democratic Alliance led coalition was ousted in Johannesburg and now Maphumulo may follow in the footsteps of Nongoma and swap from an IFP coalition to that of the ANC.
While not a major municipality by itself, national eyes will be on Maphumulo as a potential microcosm going forward after the council readjourns on Thursday.
According to municipal spokesperson, Lindo Sibisi, the council meeting had to be moved when IFP councillors became frustrated with alleged breach of process and refused to allow the meeting to continue.
The regional branch of the ANC called the conduct of the IFP councillors “retarded” while criticising the meeting and possible disruption to service delivery.
“Despite the election of the speaker, the sitting could not proceed as IFP councillors’ aggression intensified into physical conflict,” they said.
IFP provincial chairperson, Thamsanqa Ntuli, said he did not believe there was any violence and that the meeting broke down because of illegal processes followed by the ANC.
“When the motion was originally submitted, the speaker said certain standing rules needed be observed before it could be brought to council. The ANC did not follow those processes and instead complained directly to the Cogta MEC,” he said.
“Instead of observing the prescripts laid out out in relevant legislation, the MEC has been adamant in her support for the ANC. This is very disappointing and we will go to the courts to defend ourselves as needed.”
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