Despite completing interviews for Impendle Local Municipality three weeks ago, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has not yet appointed the municipality’s mayor.

The small 10-seat municipality outside Pietermaritzburg has been without a mayor since early July, following ANC councillors assisting the opposition in removing ANC mayor Buyisani Mlaba.

In the council, the ANC has six seats while the EFF and IFP have two each; however, it was reported that five ANC councillors abstained during the motion of no confidence against Mlaba, and he was eventually ousted.

A member of the ANC in Impendle said the reason for the delays is that the party councillors are openly defying the provincial leadership and would not vote for the candidate that was selected by the provincial leadership without their input.

According to the ANC insiders, the provincial leadership has chosen Nonjabulo Ndlovu to be the mayor; however, the councillors want the mayor to be appointed among the current councillors.

“The ANC provincial leadership will be embarrassed if they impose their candidate. These councillors have made it clear that they would not vote for Nonjabulo Ndlovu since she is being imposed by the top leadership. The ANC must take these threats seriously since the same councillors defied the top leadership’s directive to save former mayor Mlaba,” said the ANC member.

There was drama last week when angry ANC supporters stormed the council meeting and disrupted the proceedings.

The member said those supporters were secretly mobilised after hearing that the provincial leadership would come and appoint the new mayor; however, the party did not bring the candidate.

The member further stated that the provincial and regional leadership differed on the candidate, saying that while the provincial leadership opted for Ndlovu, the regional leadership preferred former convict, Russel Ngubo, who was among the candidates that were interviewed.

Ngubo, a former prison head, is currently the ANC’s Ward 1 branch chairperson in Impendle, a position he held at the time of his conviction in 2005.  He was convicted and sentenced to 25 years for the murder of IFP members during political violence between the ANC and IFP. However, he served only 12 years and was released on parole in 2017.

In 2015, then Justice and Correctional Service minister Michael Masutha confirmed that Ngubo was part of 149 prisoners who had been recommended for presidential political pardon. However, Ngubo was not eligible for consideration at that point because he had not completed the minimum detention period required.

Attempts to get Ndlovu and Ngubo were unsuccessful.

The ANC provincial coordinator, Mike Mabuyakhulu, said both Impendle and KwaDukuza municipalities’ matters are receiving attention and new leadership will be elected once all processes have been completed.

The KwaDukuza’s deputy mayor’s position is still vacant since August.

“The provincial leadership is attending to all these matters,” said Mabuyakhulu.

willem.phungula@inl.co.za

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