City awaits call on jailed councillor
MONTHS after opposition parties in eThekwini Municipality called for the removal of an ANC ward councillor who is drawing a salary despite being in prison awaiting trial for murder, questions remain over whether action has been taken.
A recommendation was approved by council almost three months ago stating that ward 101 councillor Muzimuni Ngiba be removed as a member of the eThekwini council.
However The Mercury was unable to establish how far the process had moved to remove the councillor and whether he was still being paid.
DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa, in a council meeting last week, asked speaker Thabani Nyawose for an update on the matter, saying the council had “made a recommendation that the person who is supposed to be a ward 101 councillor be removed and the matter cannot be left hanging”.
At the meeting, Nyawose said council had made a recommendation to Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Bongi Sithole-Moloi to remove Ngiba as a member of council.
“We are in contact with the MEC to follow up on the matter. In my last interaction with her last week she said her legal team is dealing with the matter and they will give a response in due course.”
Ngiba has been in prison for about a year awaiting trial for murder. He is a senior member of the ANC in eThekwini and ward councillor for the area that includes the Cato Manor informal settlement and parts of Mayville.
He is charged with the murder of ward councillor candidate Siyabonga Mkhize, who was killed in October 2021.
Speaking to The Mercury, Mthethwa said the situation was unacceptable.
“The ANC clearly has something to hide. It is very worrying that on a matter of such public interest the speaker refuses to come clean on whether a councillor sitting in jail for this long is still getting paid.
“In typical ANC style the speaker thinks that ratepayers’ money is for him and the ANC to use as they wish. We’ll be engaging Cogta and if need be, the public protector to investigate this,” he said.
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said if the remarks by the speaker were to be believed, then it was the provincial Cogta that was delaying the matter.
“It is not surprising that nothing has happened, the writing is on the wall. There is inaction because this is an ANC councillor. Had it been a councillor from any other political party, the MEC would have taken a decision a long time ago,” said Nkosi.
He said the delay in the matter was not fair to the residents of ward 101 and the city’s ratepayers.
ActionSA councillor Alan Beesley said the matter was a huge embarrassment for the ANC-led municipality and for Cogta. “In an environment where ethical leadership prevails this matter would have been dealt with promptly and not be allowed to drag on.”
Cogta had not responded by the time of publication.