ANC ready to fight from Nquthu opposition benches at Tuesday's first sitting

The ANC said on Monday it was ready to occupy and exercise a strong opposition role in Nquthu Municipality and to hold the IFP government accountable.

KwaZulu-Natal ANC secretary Super Zuma told TMG Digital on Monday that councillors have been taken through the process and that they will form a strong caucus.

“We are ready to play our role as an opposition in Nquthu. Our councillors know what to do and we have taken them through processes‚” said Zuma.

He said the ANC was not deploying any provincial executive committee members in Nquthu on Tuesday when the municipality is set to sit to elect a mayor and other executive committee members.

The IFP will elect its mayor unopposed after it swept the boards with a landslide victory in last month’s by-elections in the troubled northern KwaZulu-Natal municipality.

The party won 19 seats to the ANC’s 11.

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The NFP‚ DA and EFF each have single councillor in the 33-seat council. The ANC in Inkosi Bhambatha region under which Nquthu falls‚ has also vowed not to be bystanders.

Lucky Moloi who was the ANC’s mayoral candidate said even with a quorum‚ the IFP will face a good run for their money.

"They will not get rest until we govern Nquthu‚" Moloi said.

Nquthu Municipality failed to sit and elect its officials following the August 3 elections last year.

The department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs eventually dissolved the council in February this year leading to fresh polls.

With assistance from Cogta‚ estranged Nquthu municipal manager Bongi Gumbi is expected to officiate in the election of the speaker who will then preside over the election of the officials.

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The IFP leadership was locked in a national council meeting on Monday.

IFP strongman Siyabonga Mabilabila Kunene is expected to be elected as the mayor of the rural town.

This is despite Kunene‚ a former deputy mayor of the same town‚ and five other people including three councillors‚ facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder.

They are out on R7‚000 bail after they were arrested on April 21. Following their re-appearance at the Nquthu Magistrate’s Court last week on Wednesday their matter has been transferred to the regional court in anticipation for trial‚ the Hawks said. They are due back in court on July 5.

-TMG Digital/TimesLIVE