Durban - An ANC councillor from the Ulundi Local Municipality, who has been issued with a letter recalling him from the municipality's executive committee, is dragging the party to the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday morning.
ANC Councillor Mziwakhe Dubazane was issued with a letter from the party's Mzala Nxumalo Region (Zululand), recalling him from council.
Aggrieved, Dubazane unleashed his lawyers on the party, calling on the ANC to retract its letter by Wednesday morning or face legal action.
In Dubazane’s urgent court papers, which were filed late on Wednesday afternoon, he wants to interdict the ANC and the Ulundi Local Muncipality from removing him from his executive committee role at the municipality.
Dubazane wants the case to be heard at 9am on Thursday - an hour before the sitting where he will be removed is set to take place.
He claims that the ANC’s regional secretary, Ntokozo Nxumalo, is working in cahoots with the municipal manager, Sandile Khomo, to remove him from his Ulundi exco position.
Among other urgent orders, Dubazane wants the court to declare that Nxumalo has no power to instruct the municipality to remove him as a member of exco.
He also wants an order that declare that Nxumalo’s letter to remove him does not constitute a motion which may be considered, debated and acted upon by council to remove him.
He also wants a declaration that exco and the Ulundi council be interdicted and restrained from discussing, considering and deliberating on his removal from office when it meets on Thursday.
In the case of his removal, the ANC intends to replace Dubazane with Thokozani Sikhakhane, the deputy regional chairperson, who was elected during a regional conference in Vryheid last year.
The move to replace him with Sikhakhane has fuelled suspicions among some in the region that he was being pushed aside as he was part of the losing faction at last year’s elective conference.
In the court papers, Dubazane’s lawyer, Advocate Ndumiso Xulu from Durban, argues that Dubazane’s removal from the council is in contravention of the Local Government, Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998.
He also argues that the matter was urgent, and as such, it should be enrolled on Thursday morning.
JUST IN: The ANC in the Mzala Nxumalo region (Zululand) is being dragged to the Pietermaritzburg High Court by Mziwakhe Dubazane, a councillor the party intends to remove from the Ulundi local municipality. In his urgent court papers filed a short while ago and where he wants to pic.twitter.com/PLpnsf4ak6
The application was brought after the ANC and the municipality failed to heed a demand from Dubazane to remove the matter from the agenda and the governing party retracts the letter by Nxumalo.
“The Regional Secretary of the ANC, Nxumalo, is not a councillor and cannot bring a motion to remove a councillor as a member of the exco,” Dubazane argued in his papers.
Dubazane said the process followed to facilitate his removal was flawed and the court should grant him the interdict as Sikhakhane’s inclusion in the exco would mean that he would be part of the council in an unlawful manner.
“I submit that there are compelling legal basis for this application to be heard on an urgent basis.
NEWS: The ANC in the Mzala Nxumalo region (Zululand) has recalled another councillor from Ulundi local municipality exco and replaced him with one from the winning faction. Mzwakhe Dubazane has been replaced by Thokozani Sikhakhane, the party's deputy regional chairperson. @IOL pic.twitter.com/SBBpeQk1Of
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) June 27, 2023
“Section 47 of the Municipal Structures Act, states that a councillor who is elected into the exco of the municipality holds such office for the duration of five years unless such councillor dies, resigns or ceases to be a member of a political party.
“Section 57 of the Structures Act bestows the power to remove a councillor as a member of exco to council and not the municipal manager.
“A municipal council may only consider, discuss and pass a resolution removing any counsellor as a member of the exco of there was a motion submitted by a councillor, not by a municipal manager…
“The legal basis I have set out above or the provisions of the Structures Act that I have set out above demonstrate that the decision of the First Respondent (municipal manager Sandile Khomo) is plainly ultra vires the provisions of the Structures Act.
JUST IN: The ANC in the Mzala Nxumalo region (Zululand) has been instructed to retract the letter where it is recalling Councillor Mziwakhe Dubazane from Ulundi local municipality or face legal action. Dubazane's legal team has given the governing party until 10am on Wednesday
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) June 28, 2023
“Such unlawfulness may not and should not be allowed to last, survive or exist even for a second, a minute, an hour, a day, a week or a month.
“Thus, I submit, there are legal basis for this matter to be heard on an urgent basis,” Dubazane said in the court papers.
It was not yet clear whether the ANC in the region and the municipality will oppose the urgent application.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
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