ANC Buffalo City regional secretary Pumlani Mkolo, who was called upon to resign recently following his alleged involvement in the misuse of Nelson Mandela funeral funds last year, has warned ward councillors who refused to resign that they would be expelled from the party.
Mkolo was addressing a crowd of ANC supporters on Sunday in one of three of Mdantsane’s troubled wards where councillors were investigated by ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. She found them to have been put in office without proper procedures being followed during the 2011 local government elections.
He said: “You can do anything you want to do within the ANC, but do not make the mistake of fighting a decision that has been taken by the ANC. The ANC will harm you.”
Mkolo was speaking to residents from Ward 12, NU1, where councillor Landile Vika’s job is on the line after ANC regional leaders decided to implement “fully” the recommendations of the Dlamini- Zuma report.
“The report recommended that in this ward the elections should start from scratch because some of the processes, which included screening and public meetings, were not followed because of the infights in this ward at the time,” he said.
“So, the national executive committee resolved that we should give the councillors who are implicated in the report the book and two or three days to resign.
“This decision comes from the NEC and no one in the country can fight it.
“Whoever attempts to do that I will personally call that person a bull,” said Mkolo.
He added that councillors who refused to resign would be issued with letters informing them they had been expelled from the party. “Even if you want to appeal, where are you going to appeal? The same NEC you could go to is the one that has taken the decision. So we don’t waste your time.
“We have had councillors refuse to resign in Uitenhage and the ANC said ‘OK don’t resign’ and instead the seat would be declared vacant and a by-election would follow,” he said.
The other two BCM councillors implicated in the report are councillor Sizinzo Madikane of Ward 20 and councillor Veliwe Sakube of Ward 23, who serviced NU7, parts of NU8 and NU17, and part of Potsdam.
Mkolo declared the branch executive committee in Ward 12 as politically “dead” saying out of five elected members, only Vika remained. Other members had resigned and one had actually died.
In an effort to rebuild the divided ward, a new task team comprising 10 ANC members was appointed and put in office to work with the regional offices in preparation for the upcoming internal ANC election.
The Ward 12 task team is headed by Gwebile Kosani, who was competing with Vika for the councillor position in 2011.
When the councillors were questioned about the resignation call, Vika said he had not resigned as he had not received a call to do so.
Madikane refused to comment, while Sakube said she could not talk as she was in a meeting. — mamelag@dispatch.co.za
ANC’s threat to rebel councillors
Mkolo was addressing a crowd of ANC supporters on Sunday in one of three of Mdantsane’s troubled wards where councillors were investigated by ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. She found them to have been put in office without proper procedures being followed during the 2011 local government elections.
He said: “You can do anything you want to do within the ANC, but do not make the mistake of fighting a decision that has been taken by the ANC. The ANC will harm you.”
Mkolo was speaking to residents from Ward 12, NU1, where councillor Landile Vika’s job is on the line after ANC regional leaders decided to implement “fully” the recommendations of the Dlamini- Zuma report.
“The report recommended that in this ward the elections should start from scratch because some of the processes, which included screening and public meetings, were not followed because of the infights in this ward at the time,” he said.
“So, the national executive committee resolved that we should give the councillors who are implicated in the report the book and two or three days to resign.
“This decision comes from the NEC and no one in the country can fight it.
“Whoever attempts to do that I will personally call that person a bull,” said Mkolo.
He added that councillors who refused to resign would be issued with letters informing them they had been expelled from the party. “Even if you want to appeal, where are you going to appeal? The same NEC you could go to is the one that has taken the decision. So we don’t waste your time.
“We have had councillors refuse to resign in Uitenhage and the ANC said ‘OK don’t resign’ and instead the seat would be declared vacant and a by-election would follow,” he said.
The other two BCM councillors implicated in the report are councillor Sizinzo Madikane of Ward 20 and councillor Veliwe Sakube of Ward 23, who serviced NU7, parts of NU8 and NU17, and part of Potsdam.
Mkolo declared the branch executive committee in Ward 12 as politically “dead” saying out of five elected members, only Vika remained. Other members had resigned and one had actually died.
In an effort to rebuild the divided ward, a new task team comprising 10 ANC members was appointed and put in office to work with the regional offices in preparation for the upcoming internal ANC election.
The Ward 12 task team is headed by Gwebile Kosani, who was competing with Vika for the councillor position in 2011.
When the councillors were questioned about the resignation call, Vika said he had not resigned as he had not received a call to do so.
Madikane refused to comment, while Sakube said she could not talk as she was in a meeting. — mamelag@dispatch.co.za
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