Recall disgraceful Alfred Nzo mayor or else, EFF warns

“Remove the disgraceful and incompetent mayor Sixolile Mehlomakhulu by January or we will make Alfred Nzo district municipality ungovernable.”

That is the ultimatum from the EFF in the region, who want to see the back of the embattled mayor.

EFF regional chair Mawande Magadla said on Thursday they had met the municipality’s political and administration bosses on Monday, when they gave them until the end of December to remove Mehlomakhulu from office, saying this was because he was a disgrace and did not lead by example in the district.

The EFF’s call for Mehlomakhulu’s removal comes after the mayors arrest in Pietermaritzburg last week for being in possession of an illegal gun and ammunition.

In a statement, the municipality said the gun was not Mehlomakhulu’s but the municipality’s.  

Municipal spokesperson Lixolile Petela said on Thursday the gun had been left behind by a sickly bodyguard, whom the gun was assigned to by the municipality, in Mehlomakhulu’s car.

Just two months ago, the Dispatch reported that Mehlomakhulu had been hit with a court order brought by his 87-year old mother, Mvulazana, after he allegedly took lounge and dining room furniture, beds, cutlery and pots from their KwaBhaca home.

He was ordered by the court to desist from “psychologically, emotionally and economically abusing” his elderly mother.

The case will be back in court on November 29, provincial police spokesperson, Captain Khaya Tonjeni confirmed on Friday.

Recently, Mehlomakhulu brought his own action against another relative, Xola Mehlomakhulu, to prevent the man from defaming him on social media.

Magadla said: “Apart from the fact that he is not a competent executive mayor, Mehlomakhulu is also a disgrace to the institution as controversy seems to follow him wherever he goes.”

Magadla said under Mehlomakhulu’s leadership service delivery was at an all-time low, with no plans to deliver improved services to residents.

“His arrest last week is the latest of his shenanigans and we feel that he is a very incompetent mayor and that he should be removed as in yesterday,” Magadla said.

He said should Mehlomakhulu not be removed at the beginning of the new year, “we will have no choice but to mobilise, get into the streets, and render this district ungovernable”.

ANC regional secretary Vukile Mhlelembana said he was unaware of calls for the mayor’s removal.

ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi could not be reached for comment.

Petela confirmed Mehlomakhulu had been arrested while attending a court session in Pietermaritzburg last week.

He said the gun had been left by one of his bodyguards, who later made a sworn statement to the police that the gun was his.

According to Petela, Mehlomakhulu’s arrest was “a plot, because there is no way police would know about the gun, unless told by someone with ulterior motives”.

He said charges against Mehlomakhulu had since been dropped, but that could not be verified with KZN NPA spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara as she could not be reached on Thursday and Friday.

asandan@dispatch.co.za