Since August‚ the Nquthu municipality in KwaZulu-Natal has been deadlocked and unable to elect any political leadership‚ rendering the council virtually defunct - and officials are now considering scrapping the vote results and starting from scratch.
The KwaZulu-Natal legislature's cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) portfolio committee this week unanimously resolved to escalate government's involvement in the Nquthu crisis by completely dissolving the council.
This would‚ in effect‚ render the results of the August local elections in the municipality null and void and result in by-elections being called for every ward. Due to agreements and coalitions between ANC-led and IFP-led factions‚ no party has enough council seats to elect any officials‚ including the mayor or speaker.
Cogta MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube said on Thursday she was considering the committee's recommendation.
"KZN Cogta should consider going a step further and implement section 139 (c) of the Constitution which provides for the dissolution of municipalities where other interventions have failed. We believe that this is the case at Nquthu where repeated attempts to convene the council to elect office bearers have failed‚" said chair of the Cogta portfolio committee Nonzwakazi Swaartbooi-Ntombela.
She was quoted in a release issued by Cogta on Thursday afternoon. "We appreciate the positive role KZN Cogta has played at Nquthu and the results their hard work has produced in this municipality but the responsibility for the failure to elect office bearers belongs to the political parties at Nquthu and it is now time they feel the consequences of their obstinacy and see their municipal council formally dissolved‚" said Swaartbooi-Ntombela.
Dube-Ncube said some councillors were working but others were getting paid for nothing.
“We note the Portfolio Committee resolution and we will bring the view of the committee to the Provincial Executive which is responsible for the intervention. The situation at Nquthu is concerning because some councillors are doing their work whilst others are getting salaries while doing nothing and not attending to communities' concerns. There are ongoing political squabbles and serial litigations that are preventing the council from being reconstituted‚” said Dube-Ncube.
TMG Digital/TimesLIVE
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