Durban — Umvoti Local Municipality Mayor Philani Mavundla has lashed at both ANC and IFP councillors for allegedly putting their interests above that of their constituents.
This was after ANC and IFP councillors allegedly failed to attend the full council meeting which was to approve the budget on Monday morning.
Speaking to the Daily News after the collapse of the meeting, Mavundla criticised both the ANC and IFP councillors for not attending the meeting, saying their action clearly showed that they did not care about delivering services to the people but only cared about power as they are expected to attend a special council meeting to remove him on Tuesday.
He said failing to pass a budget meant that the municipality might not be able to pay salaries of the staff and deliver services to the people of Umvoti. Mavundla said the meeting was supposed to be held two weeks ago but was shifted to Monday because councillors did not attend.
The tiny municipality in KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, with a budget of only R460 million, has been rocked by the political bickering between Mavundla and the IFP councillors who have not been not attending the council meetings. Mavundla, through his Abantu Batho Congress Party, is currently co-governing the municipality with the ANC. In the arrangement Mavundla became a mayor while his party national chairperson Mfundo Masondo took the Speaker’s position. The ANC kept deputy mayor’s position through its regional chairperson Ntombi Ngubane.
“I am not surprised by their absence because they have been boycotting the council meetings with impunity. I leave this to the people of Umvoti who voted these councillors to power to see what they do with their behaviour.. The best way to serve their constituencies is to attend council meetings and go back to their wards to report back so if they are not attending meetings they are not only undermining the council but their constituencies as well.
“Service delivery is planned at the meetings and budget passing is very important for the municipality to deliver services to the people since the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA) does not allow any municipality spending without budget approval by the council so their action may result in salaries not being paid and services to the people delayed,” said Mavundla.
He thought that the meeting may not sit as the two parties are keenly waiting for the special meeting which was called by Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Bongi Sithole-Moloi to conduct motions of no confidence against him and the Speaker.
IFP whip in the council Vukani Gwala said his party was not aware of the meeting except the one scheduled for Tuesday. The ANC whip Sjula Myaka also denied knowledge of the meeting, saying he never received any notice of the meeting scheduled for Monday.
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