COPE group to ramp up action

A GROUP of Nelson Mandela Bay COPE members have vowed to disrupt meetings chaired by the party’s lone councillor, Siyasanga Sijadu, as infighting over the council seat intensifies.

The disgruntled members, who believe that Sijadu’s seat should have gone to regional chairman Khwezi Ntshanyana, have threatened legal action.

Should it end up in court, the outcome could have an impact on the coalition between the DA, COPE, UDM and ACDP in the Bay.

Sijadu is a member of the mayoral committee in charge of sports, recreation, arts and culture.

Yesterday, Thembelani Kondile, who claimed to be a regional spokesman for COPE, said all internal processes had been exhausted to try to get Sijadu removed from the council.

“Up until now, we don’t know what the agreements are of the coalition,” Kondile said.

“Every programme of the municipality that Siyasanga is involved in will be disrupted,” Kondile said. “We will make sure that this municipality is ungovernable.”

Kondile said they were instructing Sijadu to resign and be replaced with either Ntshanyana or the ward councillor candidate who received the most votes.

Sijadu said: “Anyone who wishes to disrupt constructive programmes should revisit their morals.

“The programmes in place will be for the social mandate of our young people. They will be for the benefit of their children.”

COPE’s national spokesman, Dennis Bloem, said the leadership would meet today about ill-discipline.