ANC supporters in city fight against ‘injustice’

ANC supporters in ward 12 Madlankala under the City of uMhlathuze want the party's Musa Dladla Region to force Cllr Thembelani Nsele to vacate his position.

They accuse their party of being corrupt. An irate member, Simo Khumalo claims that last year the ANC gave the community a list of preferred candidates who would contest the local government elections.

However, he says their favourite candidate was snubbed.

‘Last week, we staged a protest in Madlankala, showing our anger.

'We did so to remind our leaders about the promises they made before the elections.

'When we first raised our discomfort about the matter, they promised to solve it three months after the elections.

‘That has not occurred.

'If they fail to force [Nsele] to resign, we will be forced to stage more protests,’ Khumalo said.

He explained that during their nomination process, Sphamandla Sibiya topped the list, with Thembelani Nsele second and Philile Gumede the third best candidate.

‘According to our internal policies, every ward must submit two names of their best candidates, and take gender into account.

'We, therefore, submitted Sibiya and Gumede's names, and we don't know how Nsele ended up on the list.

'We have nothing against him, but we won't allow the infringement of our democratic principles and processes.

'We need to champion and defend our democracy.

‘During our demonstration last week, our leaders promised they would tell him to resign before month-end.

'If they fail to keep their promise, we will unleash our anger,’ he said.

ANC Musa Dladla Regional Secretary Tholi Gwala said they have scheduled an urgent meeting with Cllr Nsele.

‘After meeting with him, we will go back to the branch to have a meeting with all our members, to get their opinion.

'After that, we have to go back to the traditional leaders of the area and inform them of the decision taken.

'It is imperative to get opinions of the public in that ward before concluding the matter,' he said.

Gwala said the main aim is to resolve this impasse amicably and avoid any confutation in future.