ANC councillors under fire for bunking committee meetings

SINCE the start of the new term, ANC councillors Andile Lungisa and Litho Suka have bunked three consecutive Nelson Mandela Bay committee meetings without formal apologies.

The two, who sit on the infrastructure, engineering and energy committee, said yesterday the meetings clashed with their political work.

However, they could find themselves in hot water if the trend continues.

Speaker Jonathan Lawack said he would remove councillors who missed three consecutive meetings without a valid reason or formal notice.

While he refused to answer questions about the two specific councillors, Lawack said he was in the process of writing to councillors who had not been attending council or committee meetings.

“The Municipal Systems Act is very clear – if a councillor has failed to attend three council meetings or portfolio committee meetings without a formal notification, he or she stands to lose the council seat,” Lawack said.

Infrastructure, engineering, electricity, water and energy political head Annette Lovemore said both councillors had missed every committee meeting under the new administration.

“Councillor Suka has not submitted any leave of absence forms to the best of my knowledge,” she said.

“Councillor Lungisa submitted a leave of absence for the meeting in October last year, but not either of the meetings held this year.”

Both Lungisa and Suka said they had missed the meetings because they clashed with ANC work.

The infrastructure, engineering and energy committee discusses crucial items pertaining to the city’s water crisis, ageing infrastructure and electricity projects.

Asked yesterday why he, as a mem-

ber of the portfolio committee, had not attended any of the meetings, Lungisa said: “I’m not the Holy Spirit. I can’t be everywhere at the same time.

“As I am part of the ANC caucus leadership, those meetings clash with party meetings, but we have capable ANC councillors that attend those meetings.”

Suka said his secretary was supposed to submit his applications for leave to Lawack’s office. He said he would check with her if she had.

ANC caucus leader Bicks Ndoni said he was aware there were certain councillors who were not meeting their obligations to attend council meetings.

“The party [ANC] whip has to compile a report on councillors who do not attend council meetings because attending those meetings is compulsory,” he said.

“We will call on those councillors to explain themselves and check if there were any apologies for their absence.” In the first two infrastructure, engineering and energy committee meetings of the term, the ANC had one or two councillors who attended but hardly participated in the crucial meetings.

Bongo Nombimba is the only ANC councillor who has consistently attended all the meetings.

Last week, he was joined by councillors Andile Mfunda and Rory Riordan, who spoke robustly on behalf of the party. The two are, however, not members of the portfolio committee.