KwaDukuza municipality mayor Ali Ngidi and deputy-mayor Sicelinjabulo Cele resigned this afternoon under pressure from the provincial African National Congress (ANC).

The decision was announced at a briefing in KwaDukuza following the meeting of a high-level delegation of senior provincial leadership led by ANC provincial task team co-ordinator, Michael Mabuyakhulu.

Ngidi and Cele had been in the roles for just under eight months after being elected on November 5 last year.

They have both handed in their resignation letters but will continue to serve until new leadership is elected.

“The ANC has committed itself to rebuilding and renewal. We have said that we will act in the interests of our people and our decisions are informed by nothing else but the interests of our people,” said Mabuyakhulu.

”Anyone has the right to interpret our decision as they deem fit, but we are consistent in the message that we put our people first”

The party had previously launched an investigation into misconduct allegations at KwaDukuza following a series of scandals, including the hiring of vehicles for over R1-million and a monthly personal security bill for the mayor of just over R173 000.

Ngidi and Cele have been asked to repay a portion of the funds used for car hire.

They will only settle the expenses incurred before council formally approved car hire for them.

The mayor, who was supposed to use one of the cars as a backup, will also need to repay the expenses for that period.

Aside from these scandals, Ngidi presided over a disastrous period for the municipality.

During his tenure, the municipality experienced widespread electricity blackouts between December and February and the highly-publicised embezzlement of R35.7-million in January, as well as strikes from hundreds of workers more recently.

Separate investigators from the Special Investigating Unit, Department of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) are all also on site in KwaDukuza to look into alleged mismanagement.

Growing calls for resignation from civic society have added further pressure.

Combined, it made for an incredibly difficult period in office for Ngidi after taking over from Lindile Nhaca, who was axed at the end of September last year.

No date has been announced for the mayoral and deputy-mayoral elections, nor any replacement candidates.

It took just over a month between Nhaca’s suspension and the election of Ngidi and Cele last year.

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