The past weekend’s ANC conferences proved a major boost for Ramaphosa presidency of the party
An ANC councillor has boldly threatened to keep jobs away from community members who vote for the opposition in the Eastern Cape.
Leaked audio of ward 26 councillor Nozinzile Zaba in the Mnquma local municipality has surfaced, in which she is heard threatening to keep jobs away from community members.
In the clip, which the Mail & Guardian has heard, Zaba is heard saying that councillors belonging to the United Democratic Front (UDM) will not get tender awards.
“When we are dividing, you won’t get nothing because you were never voted in by the community in the villages to become a ward councillor. You are just a PR (proportional representation) councillor,” she said.
Over two minutes, Zaba is heard telling UDM councillor Babalo Mkhilili that his efforts to launch his party in her ward will not amount to anything.
“The ANC government is forging ahead. I don’t know about your government. I heard you came to launch at my ward. They will vote for the ANC because we are busy putting up electricity. They will come around because when I go to them I will tell them I will not employ anyone from the UDM, I will employ only people belonging to the ANC. I will tell them if you join the UDM, they get nothing. You will never get into my ward I can assure you,” she said in the recording.
Efforts to reach Zaba and Mkhilili were unsuccessful.
Mnquma falls under the jurisdiction of the Amathole district, which comprises the former Butterworth, Ngqamakhwe and Centane.
Mnquma local council speaker Thobeka Bikitsha said the audio was shared in a multiparty WhatsApp group that was set up to open lines of communication between the parties and communities.
Bikitsha said that she would reprimand Zaba for bringing the council into disrepute, adding that she had invited the councillor to explain herself before the council’s rules committee, which would institute disciplinary proceedings against her.
“I will report the matter to council, who will then take the decision on whether to refer the issue to the member of the executive committee of [the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs] in the province; possible sanctions may include a fine, suspension or a dismissal. As the speaker of council I would like to reassure the communities that Zaba was expressing her own personal views and not those of the ANC or Mnquma local municipality council,” she said.
“As councillors we have no business interfering with job allocation or recruitment of prospective employees. That is up to the administration which employs based on competency and the qualifications in terms of the approval policies.”
ANC Eastern Cape provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi could not say if the province was aware of Zaba’s statement, but that the essence of renewal in the party is to forge a culture of servant leadership and accountability.
“During periods of end of term there is somehow a desire among many ANC deployees to cling to power at all costs including using mechanisms that are not in sync with the traditions and methods of democratic practices of our movement. The ANC has established the school for the purposes of cadre development and work on those areas in which we members have political and organisational deficiencies,” he said.
The ANC is battling to keep council selections at branch general meetings from becoming violent as party members fight for positions ahead of the local government elections, at a time when many of its branches are charged with the selection of council candidates.
[/membership]