Newcastle - The EFF sponsored motion of no confidence in Amajuba District Municipality against the IFP Speaker, Siphamandla Zulu failed on Tuesday.
The red berets wanted Zulu out, accusing him of bias, dishonesty and incompetence.
Also in the firing line was the Chief Whip, Andile Nkosi from Team Sugar South Africa (TSSA) and Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) chairperson, Joseph Thusi from the DA.
Both parties are coalition partners of the IFP, and they helped it to snatch the municipality from the ANC in November 2021.
According to insiders who attended the sitting, the ANC-EFF alliance got 13 voters while the IFP-DA-TSSA alliance got 16 votes.
NEWS: The ANC in the Mzala Nxumalo region (Zululand) has recalled another councillor from Ulundi local municipality exco and replaced him with one from the winning faction. Mzwakhe Dubazane has been replaced by Thokozani Sikhakhane, the party's deputy regional chairperson. @IOL pic.twitter.com/SBBpeQk1Of
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) June 27, 2023
"The motion of no confidence against the Speaker was voted against.
"Those who were in favour of the motion were 13 against 16, so the Speaker remains.
"The motions against the Whip and MPAC chairperson fell along the way after EFF and ANC decided to stage a walkout," the source told IOL.
A source close to the ANC said they were banking on the three TSSA councillors to dump the IFP and vote with them.
"Amajuba District Municipality council meeting ANC with its alliances has failed to oust IFP today because the three councillors of TSSA abandoned the ANC and voted with IFP," the ANC source said.
Meanwhile, the ANC in the Mzala Nxumalo region (Zululand) has recalled another councillor from Ulundi Local Municipality Executive committee (Exco) and replaced him with one from the winning faction.
Mzwakhe Dubazane (who is also the principal of James Nxumalo High School) has been replaced by Thokozani Sikhakhane, the party's deputy regional chairperson.
Dubazane backed the faction of Zakhele Buthelezi that lost last year while Sikhakhane is from the winning faction led by Sbu Mhlongo.
Dubazane's removal has already been communicated to Ulundi municipality which has to formalise the process in the next council sitting scheduled for Thursday.
The regional secretary of the ANC, Ntokozo Nxumalo, had not commented on Dubazane’s removal at the time of publishing.
His comment will be added once received.
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