No clarity on whether Durban mayor has met noon deadline to resign

As the clock struck midday on Monday, there was still no clarity on whether ousted eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede had met her ANC-imposed deadline to hand in her resignation.

Gumede, who was given her marching orders following a KwaZulu-Natal provincial working committee (PWC) meeting last week, had until noon on Monday to hand in her resignation.

However, ANC provincial spokesperson Ricardo Mthembu told journalists on Monday that he was not sure if Gumede had sent that resignation - but he believed she would.

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"Zandile is a cadre of the movement. She has been in the ANC and its leadership for some time, and she understands the ANC more than anyone. I don't think there will be any problems with her resignation. We cannot single out her resignation from other resignations, but I believe she is co-operating," said Mthembu.

He confirmed the party had received resignations from some members of the eThekwini executive committee, but would not confirm which members.

"We have been receiving resignation letters.  I am not in a position right now to tell you which letters because they are submitted to the provincial secretary's office, but I can confirm letters have already been submitted," Mthembu said.

The PWC announced on Thursday that Gumede, as well as uMsunduzi mayor Themba Njilo and their respective executive committee members, would have vacated their seats to make way for the new leadership.

ANC KZN provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli said Mxolisi Kaunda, current MEC for transport in KwaZulu-Natal, would replace Gumede and Mzimkhulu Thebolla would be the uMsunduzi mayoral candidate.

This follows several weeks of uncertainty over the fate of the eThekwini mayor in the face of mounting pressure to remove her from office following her link to a controversial municipality tender.

Gumede told TimesLIVE she didn't want to comment about the deadline or her resignation as she was "not around".

Mthembu said they were expecting the new members of the executive to take their seats before the end of August.