Mnquma trio face suspension from ANC

Election of mayor transgressed party deployment orders

THREE of Mnquma’s most senior councillors are facing suspension on charges including bringing the party into disrepute.

Other than new mayor Ndyebo Skelenge, in the firing line are council speaker Zibuthe Mnqwazi and chief whip Zakhele Mkiva.

The trio is accused of sowing division in the council after the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC) made a decision earlier this month to deploy Thabo Matiwane as the new Mnquma mayor.

But that was not to be, as the 62member council instead nominated and appointed Skelenge. This was after Thobeka Bikitsha resigned as mayor on March 6. A council meeting elected Skelenge on March 9.

Ngcukayitobi said Mkiva convened meetings of the ANC caucus against party orders. “It [the caucus] is the platform that was used to defy ANC instructions. That’s the first issue.

“The second issue is that [Mkiva] was instructed to resign as chief whip and informed there will be a new chief whip. He did neither of those two things,” said Ngcukayitobi.

He said Mnqwazi was also advised to resign as speaker but did not.

“Instead he chaired a meeting that elected a mayor and ensured that members of the ANC executive committee were barred from attending that caucus.”

Since his re-election as Mnquma’s first citizen two weeks ago Skelenge, a former Mnquma mayor, has been reporting at his new offices at the Butterworth town hall.

Ngcukayitobi said the ANC was in the process of charging Skelenge because “out of desperation, he canvassed for being elected outside the ANC process while he was informed that he would not be deployed as a mayor”.

“[Skelenge] will be charged with bringing the organisation into disrepute. And also with accepting election outside the deployment process. He knows how the deployment processes of the ANC operate.

“Those elements are part of the elements who took [embarked on] a consistent effort to undermine the ANC process and the organisation as a whole.

“They brought the organisation into disrepute,” said Ngcukayitobi.

The Dispatch understands that Skelenge had been operating as Mnquma mayor since the March 9 council meeting, but the ANC in Calata House said the group is complicating its case against the party.

The trio were served with letters of intention to suspend last week, and those implicated were given 48 hours to give reasons why they should not be suspended.

Ngcukayitobi said: “We do not know what is happening on the ground. When people are in defiance they would be in government offices as we speak. That is my assumption.

“But in terms of the ANC, they would not be allowed to attend ANC functions. They would not be expected to undertake any responsibilities in the name of the ANC.

“They would not be participating in the caucuses of the ANC until their case is concluded. That is what temporary suspension means.

“If they do, that will be added to their charges,” he warned.

Skelenge refused to comment yesterday, while ANC regional secretary Teris Ntutu was not available for comment at the time of writing.

Ntutu said: “My apologies. I’m in a regional lekgotla.”

But the Dispatch understands that what complicated things was the fact that Bikitsha resigned as Mnquma mayor on March 6, and when the council held its meeting on March 9, Matiwane had not yet been sworn in as a Mnquma councillor.

Mnqwazi refused to comment when contacted yesterday and Mkiva could not be contacted by print deadline. “I don’t want to talk to the Dispatch,” said Mnqwazi.