The Speaker and Deputy Mayor came under fire at a council meeting on November 6, when a motion of no confidence was tabled against them.
Notice was given of a move to have Michael Khumalo (Speaker of Council) and Mncedisi Maphisa (Executive Committee member, Deputy Mayor and acting Mayor of AbaQulusi) removed from their respective offices.
The allegations against Cllr Khumalo were that under his watch as Speaker, ‘an unlawful and non-quorate meeting was held, which cost the municipality more than Five Hundred Thousand Rand’ and that on August 1, 2019, he violated rule 9a of AbaQulusi By-Laws by failing to put a motion to vote.
The accusations against Cllr Maphisa purported that under his watch as Deputy Mayor, ‘an unlawful and non-quorate meeting, which cost the municipality more than Five Thousand Rand’ was held and that ‘under his leadership, the municipality failed to sign off the SDBIP within the prescribed period…’
Council voted against the motion however, after a secret ballot was held to decide the fates of the two IFP Councillors.
Cllr Khumalo thus remained the Speaker of Council while Cllr Maphisa retained his seat on EXCO and his positions as Deputy Mayor and acting Mayor. Cllr Maphisa, who took up the municipal reins following the resignation of Jerry Sibiya from both the Mayoral seat and the IFP, expressed his concern at the ‘political shenanigans which have been taking place’.
“I wish to express great concern in the manner the ANC is carrying themselves. Since 2016 they have put all their effort into destabilising the municipality and hindering service delivery through these non-substantial motions they keep tabling against the IFP.”
Cllr Maphisa alleged ANC opposition was utilising ‘sly tactics’ to ‘deliberately display the IFP as failures’, by not arriving for meetings of Council or Exco.
“As a result, major compliance factors such as the approval of the Budget, were done way past the deadline, putting AbaQulusi in a bad light.”
Cllr Maphisa said it was saddening and maintained the party (the IFP) was trying to be an honest servant of the people of AbaQulusi.
“All we are trying to do is… deliver services to them and lay a foundation for a better tomorrow. We will not waiver or derail from our cause. We will remain steadfast in the execution of our duties and will serve the people and remain for the people.”
His main objective at this moment, continued Cllr Maphisa, was to ensure unity among councillors, and to have them work hand in hand to deliver services, grow the local economy and drive development.
Cllr Maphisa further advised councillors not to lose sight of the opportunity they had been given to serve the people. “The future will judge us, be it in a good or bad manner, for the way we served our people today.”
Touching on the unemployment issue in AbaQulusi, Cllr Maphisa admitted while the municipality could not possibly cater for all unemployed young people in the town, he felt strongly that as leaders it was necessary to ‘put aside the petty politics’ and rally together, to ensure the way AbaQulusi Municipality was portrayed to the public, potential investors and developers would bring about business opportunities. This in turn would ‘cater for the youth and unemployed graduates the municipality cannot accommodate’.
“For our Council to deliver services in the manner it should, we need to shift our focus from petty politics and focus on the revival of key service delivery implementation units. Council needs to engage the relevant stakeholders, such as businesses, departments and other relevant entities, which can join hands with AbaQulusi and assist our people with funding to start up businesses, agricultural projects, SMMEs and all other projects our citizens can live by.”
In conclusion, Cllr Maphisa pled with his colleagues in the political sphere: “Let us stop the petty politics we are playing. Our people are suffering due to our actions. We need to stop thinking of ourselves and our political parties and put the people we serve first, and ensure our actions do not inflict pain and suffering on our beloved citizens.

Read the full story in the paper of November 15.

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