By Celani Sikhakhane
- KZN Director General Dr Nonhlanhla Mkhize resigned after a physical fight with Youth Manager Malusi Ndima over R100-million fund approval.
- Portfolio committee chairperson calls the incident gender-based violence and summons Premier Ntuli to explain the drama at his office.
A R100-million youth fund meant to help young entrepreneurs in KwaZulu-Natal almost collapsed this week after the province’s top director general got into a physical fight with a youth manager.
Dr Nonhlanhla Mkhize resigned as KZN Director General after a serious fight with senior official Malusi Ndima, who is the Youth Manager at the Office of the Premier.
It is reported that Dr Mkhize and Ndima almost got into a fist fight during a meeting at the Pietermaritzburg office when she was accused of refusing to approve the R100-million Youth Fund.
The fund is planned to be given to youth-owned companies in KwaZulu-Natal by Premier Thami Ntuli on 16 June as part of Youth Day celebrations.
The handover is planned to take place on Monday at the Youth Day event in Mhlathuze, north of KZN.
Sources say Dr Mkhize had rejected the list of companies that were sent to her by Ndima.
“She refused to sign, saying that some of the companies didn’t meet the requirements to get the funding. This is where the fight started between her and Ndima. It was scary in such a way that the boardroom was turned into a fighting ring. Both Ndima and Dr Mkhize have laid charges at police but I am not sure what charges they have opened against each other at the police in Pietermaritzburg.
“The biggest issue here is that it was alleged that Dr Mkhize wanted to collapse the programs which was supposed to be done by former Premier Nomsa Dube Ncube but it never happened,” a source said.
The fight between Dr Mkhize and Premier Ntuli is said to have started when she allegedly refused to approve some community outreach programs that require the Premier to attend community development events.
She is also accused of bringing back senior officials who were suspended under former Premier Willies Mchunu for corruption that took place at uMtubatuba local municipality a few years back.
Sources say the biggest fight over the R100-million is that Dr Mkhize allegedly wanted to appoint companies of her choice, which led to a physical fight between her and Ndima.
The incident has angered Chairperson of the Premier and Community Safety Portfolio Committee at the KZN Legislature Mbali Fraser, who described the infighting between Dr Mkhize and Ndima as gender-based violence against Mkhize.
She has summoned KZN Premier Ntuli to a committee meeting to explain the whole drama taking place at his office, including the fight between Ndima and Dr Mkhize.
Pictured above: KZN Director General Dr Nonhlanhla Mkhize resigned at the Office of KZN Premier Thami Ntuli after she had a physical fight with Youth manager Melusi Ndima over the R100-million Youth Fund.
Image source: KZN Office of the Premier
