THE African National Congress (ANC) councillor and uMzumbe municipal speaker, Sibonelo Maphumulo, has broken his silence over being expelled from his party.
He said the ANC must not rush into shutting the door on his face because he's innocent on all the allegations levelled against him.
On Wednesday, 13 December, Daily Sun ran a story titled: “ANC councillor sent packing”.
But now Maphumulo said if the ANC is serious about fighting corruption, why are they expelling him for fighting corruption in uMzumbe.
“Everything that was said to the media by the party is not true. The real reason they expelled me is because I'm fighting the looting of public funds in uMzumbe. I will not keep quiet and watch money meant for service delivery going to politicians’ pockets,” said Maphumulo.
He said the people of uMzumbe voted for a better life, and it's a shame that when someone stands to defend them, they become an enemy of his party.
“When elections come people will be promised things that would never happen because all the money will be going to certain people. Currently, uMzumbe has a lot of unfinished projects but the budget for those projects is long finished so when I question that, they say I'm disrespecting the party."
Maphumulo said he is still a councillor and speaker of uMzumbe.
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He said he appealed the decision to expel him because the facts and evidence brought forward to the disciplinary committee during the hearing were omitted during the decision-making.
“If the ANC wants to remove me, they must do that without lying. I have become their enemy because I'm defending the people of uMzumbe and the stealing of funds by the ANC in that municipality. For the past two years that municipality has not had a chief financial officer (CFO), municipality manager (MM) and director of cooperative services," said Maphumulo.
He said that no municipality could function without these key people.
“This is deliberately so that anyone who wants to loot public funds can come and do as they please as no one will be held accountable. They must not lie about why they want me to go, because they can see that I'm questioning their wrong doings in the name of running the municipality,” he said.
Maphumulo said he'll wait for the decision of his appeal but for now, he's continuing with his duties.
When contacted for a comment, ANC provincial spokesman Mafika Mndebele said he won't divulge much because party members know the procedures to follow.
Mndebele said every member has a right to appeal a decision against him or her.
“His appeal will then be dealt with at a national level, and we'll wait for the appeal decision. But as the party, we stand with our decision that he has been expelled, and we have a strong case in this matter."
