Mabuyane warns he’ll recall entire Mnquma council
THE ANC in the Eastern Cape has threatened to recall all its deployees in the beleaguered Mnquma municipality should divisions in its caucus persist.
This comes after a failed motion of no confidence in mayor Thobeka Bikitsha, speaker Zibuthe Mnqwazi and council chief whip Zakhele Mkiva on Tuesday.
The motion was brought to council by an ANC faction aligned to suspended municipal manager Sindile Tantsi and opposition parties, who wanted him reinstated.
The urgent council meeting was called after 33 councillors out of a possible 62 petitioned Mnqwazi to convene a sitting. However, not all the councillors who had signed the petition were at the meeting.
Mnqwazi told the Daily Dispatch that 11 councillors whose signatures appeared on the petition calling on the troika to step down had since distanced themselves from the latest episode of the Mnquma soap opera. Council resolved on Tuesday to set up a committee to investigate the alleged fraudulent signatures, Mnqwazi said.
ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane condemned the divisions in Mnquma and vowed that decisive action would be taken against illdisciplined members.
Asked if taking decisive action meant recalling some councillors, Mabuyane said it could not be ruled out. “If it’s necessary, we’ll remove the entire council. We’ll create that precedent. We can’t have councillors who continue being at each other’s throats,” he warned.
It would not be the first time that the ANC takes such action. In 2012 provincial bosses expelled 16 Mbhashe councillors who had voted with opposition parties to remove then mayor Nonceba Mfecane.
Mabuyane said Monday’s meeting at Orient Theatre – where all councillors and ANC state deployees are to reflect on the poor August election results – would also be used to unite divided caucuses.
The ruling party boss described the clashes in Mnquma as anarchy, saying “no amount of desperation should lead to ANC councillors wanting to remove their comrades.”
Mnquma has been in the news for all the wrong reasons since the new council was formed after the August polls. The feud between Bikitsha and Tantsi includes an accusation that the suspended administrator locked the mayor and speaker out of their offices.
Tantsi is fighting his suspension in court on grounds that it was unprocedural and unlawful.
The municipality has also been dragged to court for illegally appointing acting municipal manager Zonwabele Plata as he was initially not appointed by council but by Bikitsha.
Council has since reappointed Plata – just days after the Mthatha High Court ordered that he stop performing any function attached to the office.
The court is set to deliver a final ruling on the legality of Plata’s initial appointment on November 29. —