IFP councillor and speaker of KwaZulu-Natal’s Abaqulusi Local Municipality, Michael Khumalo, has been called out by the ANC in the province amid what they called ‘disgusting’ utterances.
A video went viral where Khumalo was addressing a group of party members and the grieving family of IFP councillor Phaphama Mbatha, who died in a mysterious car accident weeks ago.
He is heard to have unashamedly instructed the Municipal Manager (MM) Zwelihle Dhlamini to fire a municipal worker in order to create a vacancy for any young person from the Mbatha family.
“It is not surprising that the people of KZN have described Khumalo as a cold-hearted and ruthless person for taking advantage of a grieving family following the loss of their father, uncle and husband, Mbatha,” said ANC Provincial Secretary Bheki Mtolo.
“It is shocking that within our ranks, as political parties, and IFP in particular, there are insensitive populists who are moving around using funerals to grandstand,” Mtolo said.
AbaQulusi Local Municipality 😳 pic.twitter.com/w22pwn80Ng
— Man’s NOT Barry Roux (@AdvoBarryRoux) October 11, 2022
IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa told The Star that the party had been made aware of the matter regarding Khumalo, and the Political Oversight Committee (POC) is looking into the matter.
“Khumalo will present himself to the POC at its next meeting to explain himself. The IFP reiterates the importance of the separation of party and state/government and due adherence to employment processes within the dictates of the law,” Hlengwa said.
Mtolo said they had noted that the MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sihle Zikalala, has instructed his department to conduct an investigation into the possible violation of the code of conduct of councillors.
“For our part, as the ANC, we will request the Public Protector to move in and conduct an investigation.
“The abuse of power by IFP’s office bearers in that municipality has resulted in the frustration of all political parties. As the ANC in KZN, we support a decision of the ANC councillors and all political parties to pass a vote of no confidence in the office bearers. We believe that it will be the abdication of their responsibilities as representatives of the people if they turn a blind eye to acts of maladministration and corruption,” Mtolo said.
He further said the party supports the march by the local community scheduled for Friday.
“As the ANC, we support this public disapproval of maladministration. Where there is evidence of criminality being conducted within the municipality, such must be reported to the police.
“We recall that last week the regional leadership issued a statement pointing out that over the past six months, Khumalo was using all tricks in the book to avoid the tabling of a report of a Special Ethics Committee. Apparently, there have been more than five requests submitted by different political parties, including the ANC,” Mtolo said.
He said this committee was established on 25 February to investigate the mismanagement of municipal finances and other allegations.