Political squabbles at the embattled OR Tambo district municipality are causing administration instability which could see the ailing council losing millions in conditional grants from the National Treasury if they don’t find an accounting officer soon.
This is according to the provincial ANC which is forging ahead with moves to soon replace the district’s political leadership, which has been red-flagged as “having no respect for authority of the ANC”.
The party’s provincial leadership wants the municipality’s “defiant” and “stubborn” top political brass axed and replaced.
This as ongoing political instability in council, and alleged defiance of ANC directives, intensifies.
The party’s provincial executive committee (PEC) wants “defiant” council speaker Xolile Nkompela, deputy mayor Robert Nogumla and council chief whip William Ngozi removed.
A confidential PEC report, dated October 12 and seen by DispatchLIVE, paints a picture of a council where leadership crises and power struggles between senior political bosses is the order of the day.
The three are accused of “ganging up” and working against mayor Thokozile Sokanyile, while the ANC caucus is said not to be singing from the same hymn book, thus affecting services delivery.
In the report, provincial ANC secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi charges that “the ANC caucus there has no respect for authority of the ANC, judging by the contempt with which directives have been ignored and directly challenged“.
PEC spokesperson Loyiso Magqashela on Friday said municipal shenanigans had been under discussion at every PEC meeting since June.
He said in between there had been interventions by the PEC, Cogta MEC Xolile Nqatha and other structures. This was due to “many challenges facing that municipality which are a result of stubborn municipal leadership, particularly senior councillors”, he said.
Magqashela said the tensions stemmed from the suspension of municipal manager (MM) Owen Hlazo in June, amid corruption allegations, by council, after a report tabled by Nogumla while acting as mayor and in defiance of provincial ANC leadership directives.
The party had directed the ANC caucus to wait for the submission of a comprehensive report to the PEC, and guidance from the provincial leadership, before proceeding with any action against Hlazo.
The request was ignored and Hlazo placed on suspension, a move later reversed before he was placed on suspension again.
Hlazo’s suspension came amid allegations of corrupt payments amounting to more than R168m under investigation by, among others, the special investigating unit.
The PEC report states: “The crises that have been besetting the municipality have been caused, in the main, by the power struggle between the offices of the mayor and that of the speaker, with the latter undermining the authority of the executive mayor.
“The chief whip has not managed to lead cohesive caucus, resulting in internal wrangling which have seen ANC councillors speaking against each other in council. It was also under his leadership that the caucus decided, time and again, to defy the directives of the PEC.
“Instead of a complementary role, the speaker has been in direct competition with the executive mayor, with some of the senior officials said to be accounting to the speaker.”
Nkompela refused to comment.
About Nogumla, the provincial ANC said: “The deputy mayor, working in cahoots with certain councillors, accepted to present a report he did not author, which led to the suspension of the MM, which he flatly refused to account for its authorship to the PEC.
“He also accepted to be appointed acting mayor for the council meeting which suspended the MM while the mayor was available.
“He later accepted to be given powers of the mayor in dealing with the matter of disciplining the MM.
“He was directed by the provincial secretary to report back those powers to the deployed executive authority, but he did not do that at the time he was instructed to ...
“He instead allowed himself to be used to undermine the mayor and therefore undermine the deployment of the ANC.”
Nogumla, Ngozi and Sokhanyile could not be reached for comment.
The defiant council, the PEC said, was refusing to accept Dr Vuyo Mlokoti as Nqatha and the ANC’s seconded acting MM.
It said council “risks losing more funds from National Treasury if they continue to be without an accounting officer or at least an intervention from the provincial government”.
Magqashela said consultations with party structures over the axing of the three were ongoing and could be concluded by month end.
DispatchLIVE
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