18 March 2010

The IFP has welcomed the long overdue sacking of Msunduzi Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo along with the embattled Executive Committee but questioned the ANC’s dithering in the naming of her replacement in the wake of the provincial government’s intervention in the municipality.

“We are only too happy to see the back of Hlatshwayo but we fear that, unless investigated, she may escape unscathed and waltz into another public service position as part of the ANC’s ‘cadre deployment’,” said IFP MPL Roman Liptak who serves on the Co-operative Governance portfolio committee in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature.

The IFP in the Msunduzi Council moved a motion of no confidence in the former Msunduzi Mayor as far back as 30 March 2009 on the exactly the same charges that precipitated Hlatshwayo’s forced departure a year later.

The IFP has compared Hlatshwayo’s departure to that of the disgraced former Umgungundlovu District Mayor Bongi Sithole who later walked into a lucrative position in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Local Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

The IFP maintains that unless allegations of collusion between council officials’ private business interests and municipal spending are investigated, the departure of sacked ANC cadres from the Msunduzi council could open the door for their redeployment into another sphere of government.

“We need a forensic investigation into allegations that private business interests of certain top officials may have colluded with their executive decisions in their capacity as collective leadership of the Msunduzi Municipality,” said Liptak.

The IFP will address its request for a forensic investigation into alleged mismanagement, fraud and corruption at the Msunduzi Municipality under the outgoing leadership to the KwaZulu-Natal Auditor-General.

At the same time, the IFP has questioned the inability in the ANC to find a replacement for Hlatshwayo. “We are back to the endless dithering that allowed Hlatshwayo to remain at the helm of the Msunduzi council for so long to the detriment of the entire municipality,” said Liptak. 

Contact: Roman Liptak, 078 302 0929