Umdoni municipal manager, Thabisile Ndlela, is currently attending court after Umdoni council allegedly reallocated a Democratic Alliance (DA) Executive committee (EXCO) seat and appointed an ANC councillor to it.
After a court appearance last week, DA KZN chairperson Dean Macpherson said the party was pleased with the outcome at the Durban High Court in its case against the Umdoni Municipality.
Macpherson said the case was brought by the DA after the ANC coalition in the council relocated the party’s EXCO seat in violation of the Municipal Structures Act.
He added that despite their repeated warnings and legal letters to Ndlela, the ANC coalition of chaos persisted with its ‘arrogance and unlawful behaviour’.
“In our papers and replying affidavit, we have set out why the council is not entitled to allocate our seat to the ANC and that the council has no power to do so. The acting High Court Judge agreed with the DA that the council indeed overstepped its authority and invalidated the meeting where they reallocated our seat and appointed an ANC councillor to it. The Judge further ordered that the matter is sufficiently urgent to be heard and ventilated, and we hope to get this date shortly from the Judge President of the KwaZulu-Natal High Court,” said Macpherson, adding that the opportunity will also allow the DA to argue why no possibility exists to reallocate a seat to another party during a council term and that a personal costs order should be granted against the municipal manager.”
Macpherson added: “The ratepayers of Umdoni should not be forced to pay for frivolous litigation when it can be better spent on service delivery.
The DA in KZN will continue to ensure that the rights of voters are protected and that the seats allocated to political parties that they vote for are not stolen to benefit those that have lost power through the ballot box.”
Meanwhile, when the Fever reached out to Umdoni on the allegations, the municipal spokesperson, Sphelele Cele said the matter is sub-judice therefore they cannot speak on the matter until the current legal process has been concluded.
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