Durban — The DA and ANC in the IFP-led Abaqulusi Local Municipality in Zululand have slammed the IFP for “abusing” taxpayers’ money following the council’s decision to spend R200 000 on the funeral of an IFP councillor, Phaphama Mbatha.
The matter took centre stage in a special council meeting on Tuesday where the IFP tabled the proposal and the council approved the budget. Mbatha, who was ward 13 councillor, died after a car accident last week.
In a memo from the corporate services department to the council that the Daily News has seen, it recommended that the mayor mourn the passing of the councillor with groceries of R4 000 00 on behalf of the council.
The memo also requested catering at the memorial service for 30 people, a grave, coffin, cow, sound system, groceries for the funeral, a bus to transport the community, a marquee for 1 500 to 2 000 people, chairs, decor and refreshments, all to the value of R200 000.
DA provincial chairperson Dean Macpherson said it was concerning that a rural municipality wanted to spend R200 000 on the funeral of a councillor, whereas eThekwini Metro and Parliament paid only R50 000 towards the funeral of a councillor or MP.
Mzala Nxumalo regional secretary Ntokozo Nxumalo also lambasted the proposal, saying he has instructed the party’s councillors to object to such an amount being spent. He said his party would not have a problem with the late councillor being given a state funeral but the amount to be spent was too much, adding he suspected that the IFP wanted to use the funeral to launch its campaign for the by-election to retain the ward of the late councillor.
The mayor, Mncedisi Maphisa, accused the ANC and the DA of being insensitive to the bereaved family, saying it was strange that the two parties never objected to the funeral cost at the meeting but saw fit to object to it in the media.
Nxumalo said the “consistent abuse of taxpayers” by the IFP in the municipality was the key reason for the ANC tabling a motion of no confidence to oust the party from power. He said it had been months since the IFP blocked the tabling of a Ethics Committee report, after the council appointed the committee to investigate allegations of corruption against the mayor.
Nxumalo said his party called for a motion in February but the IFP said “let the matter be investigated first” but now it was blocking the tabling of the report, which was why the ANC was bringing another motion of no confidence.
The chair of the Ethics Committee, Swelakhe Shelembe, who is a DA councillor, survived an assassination attempt in early June, just a week before he tabled the report to the committee for adoption. Nevertheless the adoption went ahead but he told the paper on Tuesday that to date the report has not been tabled in the council because speaker Dumisani Khumalo was “applying delaying tactics”.
On the pending report, the mayor also dismissed the accusation that his party was blocking it, saying the speaker was in the process of calling for a council meeting to discuss the matter, be it special or ordinary. If the motion of no confidence succeeds the IFP might lose power given the mooted coalition deal between the ANC and EFF. In the 45-seat council, the IFP has 19 seats followed by the ANC with 14, the NFP with 4, EFF with 3, the DA with 2, and the FF with 1.
Mathematically, if the EFF agrees to vote with the ANC plus four votes from the NFP, the new coalition will have 21 seats, therefore it would still need the DA to abstain with its two votes. Macpherson said his party was considering voting against the IFP.
Daily News