Africa-Press – South-Africa. KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi has denied she’s being “bullied” by ANC councillors in eThekwini on the intervention by the national government in the metro.
She was responding to the DA, which sponsored a motion to debate the Section 154 intervention, which was invoked by national Cogta Minister Thembi Nkadimeng in late April.
Sithole-Moloi’s denial of bullying in the legislature sitting on Thursday comes weeks after a high-ranking ANC figure in the eThekwini council told News24 that they had been quietly expressing dismay at Sithole-Moloi’s decision to announce the intervention in the first place.
eThekwini councillors blocked her from addressing a special council meeting last month.
The meeting was meant to introduce a “crack team” – comprising former Presidency director-general Cassius Lubisi, ex-manager of the metro, Michael Sutcliffe, and Moses Kotane Institute CEO, Thandeka Ellenson – to oversee the Section 154 intervention.
The invoking of Section 154, which is meant to lend technical support to a metro, had been kept under wraps for weeks after the national government proposed it in late April.
Sithole-Moloi confirmed it in early May. However, there has been little to no movement on that front.
DA MPL and provincial spokesperson on Cogta, Martin Meyer, said:
He said the ANC in eThekwini had “bullied” the MEC on the intervention.
Meyer maintained that a Section 139 intervention, which empowers the provincial executive to intervene in a municipality, would be more appropriate.
Sithole-Moloi told MPLs she would submit a report to respond to Meyer’s motion.
Meyer told News24 that Sithole-Moloi “clearly doesn’t know what’s going on”.
“She has lost control of the situation because of the ANC’s infighting. She just didn’t answer the question,” Meyer said.
“When are we going to look at this report? Who is she submitting the report to? That was a cop-out answer.”
The ANC’s divisions on the intervention were visible in a mid-June council meeting, where News24 sounded out senior councillors on the sidelines.
Then, a well-placed ANC councillor said: “We were surprised by the announcement.”
The ANC councillor said the municipality had already been receiving support from the Department of Water and Sanitation, but it made no announcement.
“You have to ask yourself why this was announced, when the other government support wasn’t announced,” the ANC leader said.
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