Elected Inkatha Freedom Party councillors found guilty of any act of corruption will be removed from office, party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Saturday.
Speaking at an election campaign in Amajuba District, Buthelezi said there was ”no room at all for frittering away the limited funds through corruption”, especially when it came to delivering services to rural municipalities.
”We are tightening our structures to enable them to perform this task with speed and efficiency,” said Buthelezi.
He said the party’s councillors pledged to prevent corruption when its manifesto was launched in January.
Even though Transparency International made a revelation that corruption was ”endemic” in South Africa, Buthelezi told IFP supporters, the party’s manifesto was based on its own observation of the country’s state of corruption.
He said: ”They were not telling something that we do not know. I think that it is important for us to know where we are, in order to determine where we would like to go from here.”
He also said as a result, the councillors have ”behaved in a manner which is beyond reproach”.
He added that Transparency International’s revelation was not surprising as corruption was legalised in SA through floor-crossing legislation.
The system allowed elected representatives to cross to other parties without losing their seats in municipal councils, provincial legislatures and Parliament.
”The whole thing stinks to high heavens as it is through cheque-book politics and patronage that the sewer rats steal our votes and run with them to another party,” he said. – Sapa