By Sihle Mavuso
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has fired Sibonelo Maphumulo of the Umzumbe Municipality as a ward councillor, paving the way for another bruising by-election with the IFP.
On Thursday, ANC KZN provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo wrote to Nandi Dlamini, the acting municipal manager in Umzumbe, to tell her that Maphumulo had been fired as the party’s Ward 11 councillor.
Maphumulo’s sacking comes after the ANC announced last month that he had been fired as the speaker of the Umzumbe council. The ANC accused him of creating a parallel structure and defying the party’s directives on matters that included voting.
That was after Maphumulo acted against an official who was accused of corruption, but against whom the mayor allegedly refused to act. Maphumulo was also accused of busing in supporters to protest at the ANC’s provincial offices in Durban.
He denied all the charges but was found guilty and fired.
Maphumulo’s firing as the speaker divided the party’s councillors — some sided with him while others sided with the faction that used to stage protests outside the municipal offices.
Mtolo told Dlamini in his letter that the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) should be advised there is a vacancy in Ward 11 as “[Maphumulo’s] expulsion… means he can no longer serve as the public representative on behalf of the ANC to that community…”
Umzumbe Municipality spokesperson Sabelo Ncwane confirmed receipt of Mtolo’s letter and said that Dlamini had “already written to the IEC declaring the vacancy at Ward 11” and was waiting for the body to give a date for the by-election.
The troubled municipality was plunged into further political instability on Friday when a council sitting was convened where the ANC mayor, Bongani Nyuswa, was ousted and Mlungisi Ndlovu of the IFP was elected unopposed as the new mayor.
However, the sitting is now disputed, with ANC councillors saying it was illegally convened.
Pictured above: Sibonelo Maphumulo.
Image source: X
