The governing party was defeated at full council when its allies voted against it to stop the appointment of Maxwell Mbili. (Gianluigi Guercia/AFP)
The ANC’s shaky coalition in the eThekwini metro has failed its first major test, with the party’s allies on Monday voting against its choice for city manager and siding with the opposition.
On Monday, a full council meeting voted against the appointment of Maxwell Mbili, the current municipal manager of the Ray Nkonyeni local municipality as Durban’s city manager, rejecting the recommendations of a city panel that had endorsed him.
The move to appoint Mbili had raised the ire of city councillors — among them the ANC’s allies in the Abantu Batho Congress (ABC) and African Democratic Change (ADeC) over claims that he had been selected by the governing party’s deployment committee on the instruction of premier and provincial chairperson Sihle Zikalala.
Both the parties had earlier backed the ANC to help it narrowly secure the positions of mayor and speaker after the eThekwini council was reconstituted after last November’s local government elections.
Because the ANC lacks a clear majority, their support was crucial to it being able to pass the municipal manager vote at full council level.
However, on Monday the ABC allied voted against the ANC on Mbili’s appointment, which was rejected by the full council meeting. The meeting instead endorsed the appointment of the current acting municipal manager, Musa Mbhele, until a suitable candidate is employed.
A total of 106 councillors voted against the panel’s recommendations, which had also been defeated by a 5-4 vote at the city’s executive committee, which saw ABC leader and deputy mayor Philani Mavundla vote against the ANC and with the opposition.
Only 95 councillors voted in favour of appointing Mbili.
ADeC leader Visvin Reddy said they had voted against the ANC because the party had become “arrogant and conceited” in the city.
“This is the first time in 20 years that the ANC has lost a vote in eThekwini. It is a wake-up call. They had to be taught a lesson that they are not in control of the municipality,” Reddy said.
“They must respect those that helped them regain control of the council.”
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) eThekwini leader Mdu Nkosi said the IFP and other opposition parties believed the process should start afresh.
Nkosi said the ANC had tried to “manipulate the council meeting” after being defeated at exco level, and had been outvoted again.
Democratic Alliance (DA) caucus leader Nicole Graham said the council vote was a “major victory for democracy”, because it was a “victory for the majority of councillors on the council”.
“This is how democracy should work,” she said.
Graham said the party had “concerns” about the process and claimed that Mbili had been selected by the ANC deployment committee, as well as the fact that the panel included councillors only from the governing party.
“We don’t want a situation where the council is manipulated and simply becomes a rubber-stamping mechanism for the ANC. That simply can’t happen,” Graham said.
Graham said the DA would submit a Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) application to the council and the ANC to ascertain whether the ANC deployment committee had chosen Mbili.
The party would also be pushing for the selection panel to be reconstituted to make it “more representative” and include councillors from outside the ANC.
ANC eThekwini chief whip Thanduxolo Sabelo said the process to select a city manager from 286 applicants had been above board.
“We reject with contempt any insinuation that the ANC interfered with the selection process. We are, therefore, appealing to anyone that has evidence to this effect to come forward. We also call upon those who are grieving about the entire process to challenge it within the ambit of the law,” he said.
The ANC remained “fully behind” the panel’s recommendations.
“The ANC believes in clean governance and under no circumstances shall it interfere with the processes of selecting candidates for any position. It strongly believes that everyone appointed in any strategic position, such as that of a city manager, must be appointed based on merit,” Sabelo said.
City spokesperson Mluleki Mntungwa said the recommendations were made after a “thorough selection process, which was in line with the protocols governing the employment of senior managers in local government”.
The panel, he said, had consisted of mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, ANC councillor Nkosenhle Madlala and an unnamed “independent expert” whose identity the city did not disclose.
“The city reiterates that the process was above board and free of any political interference,” Mntungwa said.
Kaunda would make an announcement on the way forward on Wednesday.
A source in the ANC’s provincial leadership with intimate knowledge of the matter said Zikalala — who has denied any interference in the process — was “frustrated” by the turn of events but remained insistent that Mbili should be appointed.
“He has to go back to the drawing board and look for another candidate. He must also answer to the PEC [provincial executive committee] why we have been made a laughing stock in council,” the PEC member said.
The ANC had “no choice” but to allow Mbhele to act and look for a new candidate.
“We were unable to convince the opposition to see it our way and we must learn that we no longer hold the majority in council. We cannot afford to make silly mistakes that expose us,” the PEC insider said.
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