Cracks are beginning to show in the ANC in the Amathole region as the race for its vacant chairman position hots up.
Supporters of Khanyile Maneli, the current liquor board chief executive officer, face off against supporters of current Nkonkobe mayor Anele Ntsangani.
The two are being touted for the position left vacant when Sakhumzi Somyo was elected as the ANC’s provincial deputy chairman in June 2013.
The party’s acting regional chairwoman, Nomasikizi Khonza, recently ordered the Nkonkobe ANC caucus in council to shelve two items which would have impacted negatively on Maneli’s ambitions to become regional chairman.
Khonza instructed the ANC councillors to defer a report on how Nkonkobe councillor Nanziwe Rulashe raked in two salaries – as a Nkonkobe and an Amathole District Municipality (ADM) councillor.
The report in question, by cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC Fikile Xasa, speaks to how the money should be recovered from Rulashe, who has confirmed she is backing Maneli for the regional chairman position.
Council was supposed to discuss and finalise how Rulashe would pay back the more than R200000 she owed for double parking between July 2012 and June 2013.
“She was recalled from ADM once we found out about the discrepancies and the fact that she did not declare the overpayment,” Ntsangani said.
Rulashe said Nkonkobe had never informed her of the fact that she owed the municipality money.
However, Ntsangani said correspondence was sent to Rulashe but “she has not adhered to the terms set out in the letter from the MEC”.
Xasa’s spokesman Mamnkeli Ngam said the decision to have Rulashe pay back the money was communicated to Nkonkobe council speaker Nonkazimlo Mlamla.
Mlamla confirmed yesterday that the report was deferred on the day.
The second item on the agenda that was shelved was a confidential report from the mayor on a Hawks investigation into allegations that Maneli had swindled funds meant for community halls to build a house in his home village.
Maneli dismissed the claims in a Dispatch report last month, saying municipal workers only worked on his house during weekends.
Khonza referred the Dispatch to regional secretary Terice Ntuthu.
Ntuthu said they asked the Nkonkobe caucus to investigate both cases thoroughly before taking the matter to full council.
“We are not saying Rulashe must not pay back the money or KC must not be investigated, but we don’t want a situation in which individuals use municipal resources to settle political scores. ”
Ntsangani refused to comment.
ANC race for Amathole hots up
Supporters of Khanyile Maneli, the current liquor board chief executive officer, face off against supporters of current Nkonkobe mayor Anele Ntsangani.
The two are being touted for the position left vacant when Sakhumzi Somyo was elected as the ANC’s provincial deputy chairman in June 2013.
The party’s acting regional chairwoman, Nomasikizi Khonza, recently ordered the Nkonkobe ANC caucus in council to shelve two items which would have impacted negatively on Maneli’s ambitions to become regional chairman.
Khonza instructed the ANC councillors to defer a report on how Nkonkobe councillor Nanziwe Rulashe raked in two salaries – as a Nkonkobe and an Amathole District Municipality (ADM) councillor.
The report in question, by cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC Fikile Xasa, speaks to how the money should be recovered from Rulashe, who has confirmed she is backing Maneli for the regional chairman position.
Council was supposed to discuss and finalise how Rulashe would pay back the more than R200000 she owed for double parking between July 2012 and June 2013.
“She was recalled from ADM once we found out about the discrepancies and the fact that she did not declare the overpayment,” Ntsangani said.
Rulashe said Nkonkobe had never informed her of the fact that she owed the municipality money.
However, Ntsangani said correspondence was sent to Rulashe but “she has not adhered to the terms set out in the letter from the MEC”.
Xasa’s spokesman Mamnkeli Ngam said the decision to have Rulashe pay back the money was communicated to Nkonkobe council speaker Nonkazimlo Mlamla.
Mlamla confirmed yesterday that the report was deferred on the day.
The second item on the agenda that was shelved was a confidential report from the mayor on a Hawks investigation into allegations that Maneli had swindled funds meant for community halls to build a house in his home village.
Maneli dismissed the claims in a Dispatch report last month, saying municipal workers only worked on his house during weekends.
Khonza referred the Dispatch to regional secretary Terice Ntuthu.
Ntuthu said they asked the Nkonkobe caucus to investigate both cases thoroughly before taking the matter to full council.
“We are not saying Rulashe must not pay back the money or KC must not be investigated, but we don’t want a situation in which individuals use municipal resources to settle political scores. ”
Ntsangani refused to comment.
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