IFP poised to scoop more ‘hung’ councils
SEVERAL more municipalities in northern KwaZuluNatal are likely to fall back under IFP control in the next few weeks, following last week’s takeover of Mthonjaneni.
An insider said that the municipalities of Umlalazi (Eshowe) and Ntambanana were likely to change.
However, the IFP’s national chairman, Blessed Gwala, would not confirm this. “All I can say is that several municipalities will come back (to the IFP) very soon,” he said.
“There is great resentment among councillors over the NFP/ANC agreement, they do not want to toe the line.”
North of the Tugela River, the IFP now controls the Nkandla, Hlabisa, Big Five False Bay, Ulundi and Mthonjaneni municipalities.
The IFP last Friday installed its own mayor at Mthonjaneni Municipality (based in Melmoth) after ousting the ANC incumbent, Maureen Ndlangamandla. IFP councillor Mbangiseni Biyela was elected after the five ANC councillors (including Ndlangamandla) walked out of the meeting.
Enabled
The changing of the guard was enabled by the sole NFP councillor (and Speaker), Ntombi Jiyane, whose presence provided the quorum that was required.
The ANC had taken control of Mthonjaneni with the help of her one NFP seat after the 2011 local election, when she joined forces with them in terms of the national Memorandum of Understanding signed at national level between NFP party leader Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi and the ANC.
Last week, the new Mthonjaneni mayor was installed a year after – almost to the day – kaMagwaza-Msibi exited public life after suffering a serious stroke on November 17 last year.
Her absence has affected the party. Now the disarray and infighting has left it in tatters – and also left in tatters the coalitions that the NFP facilitated in the 19 hung municipalities after the 2011 elections.
NFP national chairman Maliyakhe Shelembe says the working relationship between the NFP and ANC has failed. The party announced earlier this month that it would not be working with the ANC at the next election.
Jiyane denies that she has crossed to the IFP. She told The Mercury that she had called the meeting (for November 13), and therefore had to attend. As there was only one nomination for mayor, Biyela, no vote was held.
The day before the election, assassination threats were allegedly made to IFP councillors, while there was a hoax bomb threat on the day.
Bongani Hans
VIOLENT strikes at universities have turned into mud slinging between the ANC and its tripartite alliance partner, the SACP, which claims that students are being used to discredit its general secretary, Blade Nzimande.
At a press briefing in Durban yesterday, the SACP’s provincial secretary, Themba Mthembu, and the party’s provincial treasurer, Nomarashiya Caluza, said there was a third force in the ANC involved in university strikes aimed at “embarrassing” Nzimande, the Higher Education Minister.
Mthembu said the SACP had seen numerous incidents in which ANC leaders supported the students’ protest to “just deal with the department that comrade Blade is heading”.
“You might have also heard the president of the ANC Youth League saying something unthinkable within the liberation movement, and something that is reckless, that ‘we are going to march to the home of comrade Blade’.
“That is alien to the culture of the ANC. Just imagine when we march to each other’s houses,” he said.
However, both the South African Students Congress (Sasco), which had been leading #feesmustfall strikes, and the youth league have denied the allegations.
Mthembu said there were anti-communists in the ANC who had hijacked the “honest demands” of students to target Nzimande.
Youth league president Collen Maine had previously been reported as saying that the league was resolute in calling for Nzimande to relinquish his government position “if he cannot perform”.
“We are still saying that all ministers who are not performing in their duties must go – we had never said only Blade,” he said.
Caluza alleged that Sasco leaders had disclosed to the SACP that they had been approached by ANC leaders who aimed to use them to fight Nzimande.
“Fortunately as Sasco, they know that comrade Blade has delivered on the transformation agenda and the challenges that continue to engulf that sector.“
Sasco president Ntuthuko Makhombothi denied Caluza’s claims. “It is not true, unless you are talking about some other organisations,” said Makhombothi.
He said Sasco had no plan to embarrass Nzimande. He said the student protest was aimed at important issues.
ANC spokesman Mlondi Mkhize said Mthembu’s and Caluza’s statements showed that the SACP was searching for someone in the ANC to blame for the protest.
“If you remember, immediately after the protest the second deputy general secretary of the SACP (Solly Mapaila) said that the protest was sponsored and financed by certain ministers and national executive council members of the ANC whose intention was to discredit the minister,” he said.