FIVE ANC councillors and a speaker from KZN have jumped ship following a fall out with the party.
They believe seeking answers from their organisation is what made them enemies of their own party. Hence, they have found a new home under uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party which is endorsed by former fresident Jacob Zuma.
They all claimed they couldn’t allow the ANC to turn uMzumbe Municipality into a corruption den under their watch.
Ex-speaker, Sibonelo Maphumulo, who was expelled from the ANC in December 2023 for disobeying the party’s instructions, said there were delays and zero interest in attending to his appeal, so he decided to jump ship.
“Their actions of not attending to my appeal clearly indicated they didn’t want to resolve the matter and didn’t care about the people I serve. I decided to leave them in peace,” Maphumulo said.
He said the ANC used to serve the people but have since turned it into something else.
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“The municipality has been a looting ground for some officials hence they have not appointed a municipal manager and a chief financial officer who will account if money disappears from the municipal account. They did that on purpose, and we can’t be against those who voted for us."
The five ward councilors, who dropped the ANC to join the MK party, are Ayanda Duma, Thuthukani Jeza, Sbonakaliso Radebe, Bheki Phungula and Thulo Mkhungo.
Duma said corruption is what pushed them out the door as they couldn't be silent.
“We were targeted because we questioned taxpayers' money that kept disappearing. And that made us enemies of our own organisation,” Duma added.
Radebe said what seems strange is that ANC provincial secretary, Bheki Mtolo, was called many times to address issues, but didn’t pitch, yet he is quick to make public statements lying.
Addressing the councillors' departure, Mtolo said those who left did so because they didn’t care about the needs of the people.
“They ran because we were going to fire them. The ANC is happy. They made our work easy,” he said.
Daily Sun tried to get comment from the ANC and the municipality on the corruption allegations but was unsuccessful.
