Africa-Press – South-Africa. The DA in eThekwini submitted a motion to eThekwini Speaker, Thabani Nyawose, requesting urgent action against murder-accused ANC councillor Mzimuni Ngiba.
Ngiba has been languishing in jail for a year on charges that he allegedly killed his Ward 101 predecessor, Nkosinathi Ngcobo.
Although Ngiba is in jail, he has raked in hundreds of thousands of rands because he is still on the council’s payroll.
In a statement, the DA’s Mzamo Billy said the councillors’ code of conduct requires councillors to be present at council meetings and other critical meetings.
Billy said the councillors’ code of conduct states that a councillor who doesn’t attend three or more consecutive council meetings or three or more consecutive meetings of a committee should be removed from office.
“The DA hopes that this motion will be supported by all political parties that have the interest of the residents of Ward 101 and the ratepayers, who continue to pay a councillor who has been in prison for a year without doing any work,” said Billy.
At a press briefing this week, the ANC’s provincial secretary, Bheki Mtolo, in referring to Ngiba’s case, said a councillor could not be removed willy-nilly by the party.
In a previous case, Mtolo said, when he wanted to remove a councillor who had moonlighted as an employee in the KZN premier’s office, the South African Local Government Association informed him that a councillor could only be removed if they had resigned or were deceased.
Mtolo said he wasn’t even sure whether Ngiba had appeared in court.
He criticised the justice system for taking time to process the case.
“You’re saying the man is in jail for a year. He has not attended the trial. What kind of justice system is that? Guys, a year is 365 days,” Mtolo said.
He called for an “efficient” justice system, so that delays, such as the one in Ngiba’s case, could be avoided.
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