ANC councillors’ scheme to oust IFP council speaker turns against them
The two AbaQulusi Municipality councillors now face prosecution after trying to bribe DA colleague to vote with them
By ANDILE MOSHOESHOE
The number of councillors who might have to step aside as per the ANC’s much talked about step-aside rule might increase. This comes in the wake of the reinstatement of the case of bribery by the Director of Public Prosecutions against two AbaQulusi Municipality councillors.
The two councillors are alleged to have tried to bribe a DA councillor, Magda Viktor in 2018, They offered Viktor R20 000 for the support of a vote of no confidence against the speaker, Michael Khumalo who is an IFP representative.
DA leader in the KwaZulu-Natal, Francois Rogers said they were delighted that the case has been reinstated and will make a follow up on it until it reaches the end.
He revealed that the matter never reached finality as the Director of Public Protections referred the matter for further investigation by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team.
“With this process now concluded, the matter will be heard in the Vryheid’s Magistrate Court on 28 June 2021,” Rogers added.
Mzala Nxumalo Regional Spokesperson, Lawrence Dube said the matter is dealt with by the ANC since it is political.
“It would be premature for us to talk about it since the councillors or the accused persons have not yet been charged. We only saw this on the DA statement,” Dube said.
He said it is too early to associate the matter with the step- aside rule because the case was dismissed.
“However, the province is dealing with the matter, politically” he said. The ANC provincial spokesperson, Nhlakanipho Ntombela said the matter has not been brought to their attention and promised to communicate with Mzala Nxumalo Region.
However, follow up calls made to him were unsuccessful and he promised to get back to us until the time of publishing.
