THE IFP has lost Nongoma and Maphumulo municipalities in KZN to the ANC and NFP within a space of a week.
On Tuesday, 21 February, Nongoma Mayor Albert Mncwango was voted out with a vote of no confidence.
The NFP, which is in coalition with the ANC, took the mayorship, while the EFF took the speaker position, who was also voted out with a motion of no confidence.
On Thursday, 23 February, an IFP mayor in Maphumulo Municipality was also voted out and was replaced by an ANC mayor.
IFP provincial chairman, Thami Ntuli, has called on KZN Cogta MEC Bongi Sithole-Moloi to stop abusing her position to influence critical decisions in favour of the ANC at the cost of service delivery in local government.
He said the decision by the MEC to prematurely get involved in the governance of the IFP-run Maphumulo and Nongoma municipalities constituted total overreach.
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“ANC councilors wanted to make political changes in the leadership of Nongoma and Maphumulo municipalities, but they failed to follow internal processes in petitioning speakers of the two municipalities to convene special council meetings,” said Ntuli.
Ntuli said that they jumped the gun and wrote to the MEC, seeking her unnecessary intervention to force councils and speakers to convene these meetings.
“It is against this background that the IFP in KZN wishes to express its unhappiness with how Sithole-Moloi has chosen to handle the Maphumulo and Nongoma municipalities' matter. Instead of first conducting an independent investigation into both municipalities before acting, she instead opted to only listen to the side of her ANC comrades,” said Ntuli.
“We therefore challenge the MEC to employ the same energy to expedite and resolve the uMkhanyakude District matter, where the ANC is unlawfully occupying positions that should be occupied by the IFP. In uMkhanyakude, the voters demanded change and voted the ANC out of power."
Sithole-Moloi said the accusations by the IFP that they acted unlawfully by designating someone to convene the council meetings in Nongoma and Maphumulo are baseless and show a lack of understanding of the law that governs the functioning of municipalities.
“The department is willing to defend itself and its decisions in any court of law as they relate to this matter,” said Sithole-Moloi.
