For a week, the beleaguered Mnquma municipality has been operating without a mayor following the resignation of Thobeka Bikitsha last Friday.
Bikitsha, who was at the centre of a long period of instability as she had been at loggerheads with the late municipal manager Sindile Tantsi and the speaker Zibute Mnqwazi, resigned after she was instructed by the ANC provincial bosses to do so.
She confirmed yesterday that she would stay on as an ordinary councillor.
Mnqwazi and chief whip Zakhele Mkiva, who were also instructed to resign, appear to have defied the ruling party as they are yet to heed the call.
“As far as I know it is only me who has tendered a resignation letter, while the remainder of the troika is defying party orders.
“I decided not to defy the order because this was a deployment post, and when the party feels I should step down, I did not see any reason to resist.
“I don’t take such a move in a negative light because it was the same party that deployed me that is now asking me to step down,” Bikitsha said.
Mkiva yesterday said he had not been told to resign, and it was business as usual as he was preparing for a council meeting this morning to discuss Bikitsha’s resignation.
“There is nothing that said I should resign. The provincial ANC leadership only told the mayor to resign, not all of us as the troika.
“In the council meeting, we will table such a letter for discussion and it will be up to councillors to decide whether we can operate with a vacuum at the mayor’s office for now, or whether we should immediately elect a new mayor,” Mkiva said.
Numerous attempts to get hold of Mnqwazi, ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi and provincial chairman Oscar Mabuyane proved fruitless at the time of writing yesterday.
However, Ngcukayitobi had previously told the Dispatch that the provincial executive had decided to change political leadership in four of the province’s municipalities.
The identified municipalities were Mnquma, Enoch Mgijima in Komani, Port St Johns and the Walter Sisulu municipality in Aliwal North.
ANC PEC member Thabo Matiwane’s name has been bandied about as Bikitsha’s replacement.
Matiwane said he was not aware of the planned deployment and referred further questions to Ngcukayitobi.
Sources within the council yesterday said Matiwane’s pending deployment had been questioned by some.
One source said even though they were aware that Matiwane was from the area, “we feel he is not the right person to bring stability and take our council forward”.
“His proposed move is a bone of contention here in council because some feel that he is not the right person as he left the ANC in 2008 to be part of those who formed COPE.
“He was one of those people who were insulting us and the very same ANC that is now planning to deploy him here as the mayor.
“Some of us don’t even know when he returned to the ANC, and now they want him to be our mayor,” said another source. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
Mnquma mayor leaves a vacuum after ANC decree
Bikitsha, who was at the centre of a long period of instability as she had been at loggerheads with the late municipal manager Sindile Tantsi and the speaker Zibute Mnqwazi, resigned after she was instructed by the ANC provincial bosses to do so.
She confirmed yesterday that she would stay on as an ordinary councillor.
Mnqwazi and chief whip Zakhele Mkiva, who were also instructed to resign, appear to have defied the ruling party as they are yet to heed the call.
“As far as I know it is only me who has tendered a resignation letter, while the remainder of the troika is defying party orders.
“I decided not to defy the order because this was a deployment post, and when the party feels I should step down, I did not see any reason to resist.
“I don’t take such a move in a negative light because it was the same party that deployed me that is now asking me to step down,” Bikitsha said.
Mkiva yesterday said he had not been told to resign, and it was business as usual as he was preparing for a council meeting this morning to discuss Bikitsha’s resignation.
“There is nothing that said I should resign. The provincial ANC leadership only told the mayor to resign, not all of us as the troika.
“In the council meeting, we will table such a letter for discussion and it will be up to councillors to decide whether we can operate with a vacuum at the mayor’s office for now, or whether we should immediately elect a new mayor,” Mkiva said.
Numerous attempts to get hold of Mnqwazi, ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi and provincial chairman Oscar Mabuyane proved fruitless at the time of writing yesterday.
However, Ngcukayitobi had previously told the Dispatch that the provincial executive had decided to change political leadership in four of the province’s municipalities.
The identified municipalities were Mnquma, Enoch Mgijima in Komani, Port St Johns and the Walter Sisulu municipality in Aliwal North.
ANC PEC member Thabo Matiwane’s name has been bandied about as Bikitsha’s replacement.
Matiwane said he was not aware of the planned deployment and referred further questions to Ngcukayitobi.
Sources within the council yesterday said Matiwane’s pending deployment had been questioned by some.
One source said even though they were aware that Matiwane was from the area, “we feel he is not the right person to bring stability and take our council forward”.
“His proposed move is a bone of contention here in council because some feel that he is not the right person as he left the ANC in 2008 to be part of those who formed COPE.
“He was one of those people who were insulting us and the very same ANC that is now planning to deploy him here as the mayor.
“Some of us don’t even know when he returned to the ANC, and now they want him to be our mayor,” said another source. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
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