Durban — As an ANC-EFF coalition gears up to grab several hung municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal from IFP control, EFF councillors say they are living in fear after being threatened to ‘stop what they are doing’.
EFF provincial chairperson Mongezi Thwala told the Daily News on Monday, that their councillors in Zululand have reported receiving calls from unknown people warning them to stop what they were doing.
Thwala said although the callers were not specific, the threats were (apparently) intended to scare EFF councillors from voting with the ANC in a series of motions of no-confidence that were being filed to oust the IFP from power.
He said the party intended reporting the matter to the police.
“We are concerned and disturbed by reports that our councillors in Zululand are being threatened. They have informed us that they received calls from people who offered them money but after turning (down) those bribe offers they then received threats from people who told them to ‘stop what they were doing’,” said Thwala.
The EFF leader, however, said they would not be intimidated and were focusing on reclaiming hung municipalities from the IFP.
Last week the EFF ended its marriage with the IFP and chose to form a new pact with the ANC in the province, leaving close to 10 hung municipalities on the balance. The EFF and ANC have set their sights on the Zululand district and Nongoma local municipalities.
The two municipalities are in the birthplace of the IFP and its founder Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi. After the local government elections in 2021, the EFF helped the IFP to retain the two municipalities, and others where the IFP did not have an outright majority.
In Zululand, the EFF became a kingmaker with its sole seat after the ANC and NFP coalition tied with a IFP-DA coalition. Last week the ANC-led coalition was let down by NFP councillor Berthwel Nxumalo who openly defied his party and helped the IFP to retain power.
Nxumalo and the IFP apparently took advantage of the NFP’s legal problem after its national leadership was declared unlawful by the Pietermaritzburg high court in November 2021.The order meant the leadership was unable to make any legal and valid decisions.
Last Friday, a Nongoma council meeting had to be postponed after the speaker ran away from the meeting according to NFP secretary-general Canaan Mdletshe.
The ANC, NFP and EFF coalition make up enough numbers to take the municipality. Mdletshe said their coalition had refiled the motion this week but the speaker was refusing to issue letters of notice to the councillors.
Attempts to reach the IFP leadership in the municipality for comment were unsuccessful.
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