Daggers out for Umvoti Mayor Mavundla
ABC leader faces motion of no confidence
Abantu Batho Congress (ABC) leader and Umvoti Mayor Philani Mavundla, who is facing a motion of no confidence, yesterday downplayed the prospects of losing his top position in the municipality.
The Umvoti mayor has fallen out of favour with the party’s coalition partner at the municipality — the ANC — which, along with the IFP, is now supporting the motion calling for his removal.
Mavundla recently made headlines when he announced that the ABC would ensure that KwaZulu-Natal becomes an independent state, should the party win the province in the upcoming general elections.
But Mavundla yesterday told The Witness that he was less concerned about the motion.
“My passion is around issues of development, and not around positions.
“So, if people think there is someone who can do the job of mayor better than me, I really can’t have any problems about that; let them go ahead, it’s their democratic right.
“In any case, my main preoccupation at the moment is to see to it that KZN becomes an independent state after the general elections,” he said.
A former eThekwini Municipality deputy mayor, Mavundla was previously in a coalition with the IFP at the Umvoti Municipality.
However, following a fall out between the IFP and ABC, Mavundla was elected as mayor of the Umvoti Municipality last year with the backing of ANC councillors at the council.
An advisor to Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini, Mavundla was one of the leaders of political parties hoping to take over control of the KZN government in the upcoming May general elections.
Mavundla, who is also the owner of the Greytown Shopping Mall, was adamant that the only way KZN could realise its growth potential was if the province were to secede from South Africa.
“We firmly stand by our unwavering support for the indigenous population and will not apologise for it.
“Natives in Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, and other southern regions take pride in their heritage, but in what is now known as South Africa, indigenous tribes have been left to struggle while colonisers thrive at their expense,” he said.