Councillors call Mbaks

NEW CFO FACES GRAFT RAP – YET PEC BACKED APPOINTMENT Boycotting officials refuse to reverse decision without secretary-general’s input.

Angry ANC councillors in the Moses Kotane local municipality in North West have boycotted a council meeting, demanding to see the party’s secretary-general Fikile Mbalula in person.

A large number of ANC councillors boycotted the council meeting on Friday after they refused to rescind a council resolution to appoint a new chief financial officer (CFO) facing fraud and corruption charges in court. They want Mbalula to address the matter himself in the party caucus.

Among ANC councillors who boycotted were Kopano Khunou, Mookamedi Thale and Rose Lukhele. They refused to enter the chamber.

The three were later joined by some who had signed the register but decided not return after a break.

Another councillor, Mpho Raboroko, decided to instead attend a South African Local Government workshop in Mahikeng.

According to two separate ANC sources, the councillors were boycotting as a form of protest. They refused to participate in reversing a council resolution to confirm the appointment off new CFO Mzwandile Mkhize, who was selected for the job even

though he faced criminal charges in court emanating from the VBS Mutual Bank saga.

The ANC-dominated council, with the backing of the opposition parties, endorsed Mkhize’s appointment in December.

Mkhize and two senior officials were charged after they allegedly facilitated an investment of more than R300 million of municipal funds into VBS Mutual Bank on behalf of West Rand local municipality in Gauteng.

Mkhize was appointed in defiance of Luthuli House’s instruction that no person charged with corruption, including the VBS graft, should be appointed into state organs or elected into a public office.

Mbalula ordered the ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) to ensure the appointment was reversed. The PEC, which visited the ANC caucus at Kotane last week in an attempt to persuade it to reverse Mkhize’s appointment,

was told that would not happen. The councillors claimed it was the PEC that encouraged the improper appointment and was now trying to backtrack under pressure from ANC head office.

Now, the boycotting councillors want Mbalula to address the caucus himself and give direction about what should be done. They were not prepared to deal with the PEC or the regional executive committee on the matter.

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