Ex-speaker in limbo as council defies ANC
THE future of former Ngqushwa municipality council speaker Zukisa Jowela remains unclear after the council defied provincial ANC instructions to inaugurate him as a proportional representative councillor.
The embattled council has 23 seats, but only 22 multiparty councillors were sworn in on August 20, with Jowela left out in the cold in what the provincial ANC leadership called “gross defiance, laced with factional interests”.
Jowela, who is also the ANC’s Amathole regional executive member, is said to be at loggerheads with some of his comrades over their different leadership preferences in the build-up to the region’s elective conference in December.
It is understood he is part of a group advocating for leadership change when the region finally goes to conference.
Jowela confirmed he had not yet been sworn in and had not been to a council meeting since the new term began in August. He blamed the impasse on “political differences” in the region, but declined to discuss the matter further.
Party provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane said the issue was one of “factional interests and unnecessary tensions that drags the ANC’s name through the mud”.
Mabuyane said the province was made aware of the matter two weeks ago and had immediately written to ANC chief whip Fumanekile Phumaphi ordering Jowela’s inauguration.
Mabuyane said he was shocked the instruction had not yet been carried out.
“This shows that there is an element of defiance. We thought that by now this should have been done after we have instructed the chief whip in writing to facilitate such.
“By law if you don’t fill your vacancy in 30 days, that person becomes a councillor whether you have sworn them in or not,” an agitated Mabuyane said.
He added: “This is one of those clumsy things that portrays an ANC that is at war with itself.”
Mabuyane said another issue they would look into concerning Ngqushwa council was its failure to apply the policy which requires that 60% of those in the previous council be retained for stability in the current term.
“It seems like they have again defied the organisation that deployed them and that is unacceptable,” Mabuyane said.
Phumaphi yesterday could neither deny nor confirm receiving Mabuyane’s letter, saying he was not mandated to comment.
“I am not the person who is supposed to inaugurate people here, so I cannot answer you as to why he has not been sworn-in. The better people to answer that is the council speaker and the ANC in the Amathole region,” Phumaphi said.
Amathole ANC regional secretary Teris Ntutu and council speaker Nombuyiselo Magingxa could not be reached for comment at the time of writing yesterday.