The factional and disunited King Sabata Dalindyebo Dalindyebo troika faces the axe by the end of the week.
The ANC provincial executive committee has found them responsible for the degeneration of Mthatha into a filthy mess.
Mayor Dumani Zozo, council speaker Nontyatyambo Gcingca and chief whip Sihlwele Nyengani last week confirmed to the ANC provincial working committee that since being appointed in 2016, they had struggled to work together and instead were riven by infighting.
Although no public pronouncement has yet been made, sources close to processes confirmed that KSD council was likely to have a new troika following the emergency stakeholder engagement held by the ANC provincial executive committee on Thursday evening.
The trio attended the meeting and listened as they were publicly lambasted for the chaos.
In a hard-hitting speech ANC provincial chair Oscar Mabuyane hinted that the ANC had already taken a decision to recall the troika, but stopped short of making the pronouncement.
He would not entertain a media inquiry on the matter, saying: “We will make a full report on April 21 on what we have done to turn around the situation in Mthatha. The people of KSD can no longer continue to be so dehumanised and exposed to this level of bad treatment,” he said.
Zozo’s recall will come barely two weeks before the May 8 general elections.
Mabuyane bemoaned the fact that a city, once the economic hub of the eastern side of the province, had been allowed to descend into chaos, and tore into Zozo and Ngcingca for this decline.
“The mayor and the speaker are instigators of the chaos that ravages Mthatha where workers embarked on sporadic strikes strewing rubbish, harming service delivery and chasing away potential investors and tourists.
“We cannot protect people who are not committed to servicing the people, (who are) too occupied waging personal vendettas against each other and who use workers to fight their own personal battles while the municipality degenerates into chaos and the mess causes a community uproar.
“The mayor and the speaker have confirmed that since being appointed in 2016 they have never worked together harmoniously as a collective, but instead drifted away from each and waged battles personal battles,” he said.He accused the Zozo administration of creating anarchy in Mthatha.“Governance is in shambles. By the end of this week the chaos that turned Mthatha city into a pigsty will be history,” he promised.He, however, cautioned municipal workers from being misused to fight personal political battles.Samwu in Mthatha is divided into two factions, one of which has demanded the axing of Zozo while another came out in his defence.Zozo, Gcingca and Nyengani confirmed they were on Monday given a five-day deadline to restore stability, but had received no communication ordering them to step down.However, the trio said as ANC deployees and discipline cadres they would abide by the ANC decision.“Yes, the tone of the speech of the provincial chairperson was of firing us, but I have not received such a directive to step down” said Nyengani.lulamilef@dispatch.co.za..