ANC welcomes Umzumbe councillors’ departure
The five councillors announced that they will be joining the ANC-expelled former speaker of Umzumbe council, Sbonelo Maphumulo who is now a member of the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe Party.
The ANC in KZN said it is relieved that five councillors in Umzumbe Municipality recently resigned from the party after being suspended.
The party’s provincial secretary, Bheki Mtolo, alleged that the five councillors were among the people who were forcefully demanding tenders from the municipality.
In a media briefing on Tuesday last week, Ward 1 councillor Thulo Mkhungo, Ward 2 councillor Sibonakaliso Hadebe, Bheki Ngema (Ward 3), Thuthukani Jeza (Ward 19), Ayanda Duma (Ward 9) announced their resignation as councillors of the ANC.
These councillors also announced that they will be joining the ANC-expelled former speaker of the Umzumbe council, Sbonelo Maphumulo, who is now a member of the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.
The five councillors were recently suspended along with three other councillors (Mhlengi Luthuli, Mduduzi Msomi, and Smangele Dlamini) for allegedly voting with opposition parties in the municipality.
The briefing on Tuesday was held at the community centre in Mtwalume and was chaired by Maphumulo.
He said they decided to part ways with the ANC in Umzumbe after alleged corruption and money laundering.
Maphumulo said corruption in Umzumbe is mostly in road and electrification projects.
He cited an example of Ngcengcesi Access Road in Ward 3, which had a multi-million rand budget, saying that the money allocated for the completion of the road was finished, but the work was not.
He said the local labour and sub-contractor are owed over R500 000.
“When you question such things, you become an enemy, and we are told that this is an ANC instruction. We have been shamed for voting with the opposition in the municipality, and this is when we call out wrongdoings that are also being called out by other parties. We are called sellouts. The municipality has not had a municipal manager, CFO, director of technical services and director of social services for almost two years now.”
“So now the question is: who is responsible for endorsing payments if all these senior positions are vacant? We challenge the president of South Africa to call on the Special Investigating Unit to conduct a thorough investigation in Umzumbe,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mtolo said five councillors have made things easy for them by resigning.
He explained that these councillors attended a disciplinary hearing recently, saying that they knew that they were going to be expelled.
“When we suspended these councillors, we stated our reasons. Among those reasons was that whenever a tender was being awarded by Umzumbe, these councillors would mobilise people to cause trouble in the municipality so that the awarding process could go their way. We are not worried about the corruption allegations we urge them to go to the police, the public protector, SIU to open a case,” he said, adding that these councillors are free to join any political party.
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