Final council meeting of 2016 turns into a mud-slinging contest

THE FINAL council meeting of 2016 really brought on the heat.

From councillors being thrown out of the chamber for being inappropriately dressed for a council meeting to the occasional mud slinging between council members, the meeting was a morsel of what many see happening in our national parliament.

Among the main topics of discussion for the day was the motion of no confidence against the mayor, which was brought forward by the ANC after the Department of Education found him guilty of having misappropriating funds from Lindumthetho Primary School.

After reading the motion to council members and the gallery, the ANC’s Whip Cllr Mariah Mabaso went on to say that they, as the ANC, were proposing that the Mayor be removed from his position and that Cllr Mdlalose be put in his position.

This, of course, did not go down without jeers from IFP members in both the gallery and among councillors.

The matter was then handed to Cllr Jerry Dlamini, who is also the spokesperson of the IFP.

In opening, Cllr Sibiya pointed out that the motion had attachments of certain emails that had been exchanged between the Mayor and the municipal manager privately.

“The fact that these emails, which were clearly private, were handed out to other members of the council in this manner is a clear indication that this was done illegally. This comes as a great shame considering the fact that council members swore an oath that they would not disclose any information shared privately within the municipality,” said Cllr Sibiya.

He went on to say that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones as the ANC also left a great mess within the municipality after their term.

“What about issues such as that of ADM Security, which was taken to the public protector for investigation? What about the unlawful tender matters? The forensic audit? Issues of the mayoral car? When do we start discussing those?” he asked.

Cllr Sibiya said that they were well aware of all that was stated on the motion but said that the ANC had taken things a bit too far by already starting to discuss the hiring and firing of people.

“What you need to remember is that the mayor was found guilty by the Department of Education, not by the court of law. What we should rather be discussing is that an investigation committee be formed and that they look into all the allegations of corruption that have been brought forward to date,” said Cllr Sibiya.

It was at this moment that Cllr Mabaso came to the ANC’s defence saying that they would not be quiet about corruption whilst they are well aware of it.

“Other councillors may have not taken the necessary steps to fight corruption during our term, but we have seen these issues and have decided to stand up against them,” said Cllr Mabaso.

On the other questions that were posed against the ANC, Cllr Mabaso said that the past should remain in the past and that the new allegations should be probed.

The speaker, Michael Khumalo, permitted that the investigations committee, consisting of seven council members (Cllr TD Ndlovu, Cllr MM Mhlungu, Cllr R Ally, Cllr AM Mazibuko, Cllr NB Manana and Cllr MJ Sibiya) be formed.

The committee will start working on January 10 and will be given 21 days to compile a report with information regarding all allegations of fraud that have been brought forward in AbaQulusi Municipality to date.

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