Mbalula accused of taking sides in Buffalo City leadership revolt
The ANC is to intervene in the strife-torn Buffalo City metro as political infighting among ANC councillors intensifies.
Some party members are gunning for mayor Princess Faku and council speaker Humphrey Maxegwana.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the infighting was spreading and becoming uncontrollable.
He criticised those he said were disrupting council meetings and putting the party into disrepute, and threatened an intervention to fix the problem among ANC members in the metro.
Factional divisions
The councillors accused Faku of dividing them into two camps, with one supporting her.
They accused Mbalula of failing to resolve the problem, although he had been alerted to the situation, claiming instead he sided with the Faku faction.
Mbalula said the matter was on the national executive committee agenda for a decision about what should be done.
Buffalo City, which used to thrive, previously receiving clean audits from the auditor-general and won several national Vuna awards for good governance under the late former mayor Sindisile Maclean, his former deputy Desmond Halley and then city manager Mxolisi Tsika.
But the metro has since badly deteriorated into a centre of corruption and political infighting and has received only adverse and disclaimer reports from the AG for several years.
Services have collapsed in the major urban centres of East London and Qonce, with massive potholes in the main Oxford and Buffalo streets, while most roads in the rural villages have dongas and are unusable by vehicles.
Mbalula 'defending' Faku
An ANC member opposed to Faku accused Mbalula of making 'uninformed' and 'reckless factional and dangerously premature' public comments.
'Instead of calling for facts, reports or accountability, the secretary-general has chosen a side.
'Not the side of the truth, nor the ANC constitution, nor even the suffering residents of Buffalo City, but the side of Faku, the mayor, and the faction that is bleeding the metro to death.
'Mbalula is defending the mayor, not because she is innocent, but because she is politically connected,' the member said anonymously.
He said of the 61 ANC councillor in the city, 45 had rebelled against Faku, but he said Mbalula had allegedly tried to criminalise and discipline them, although he wanted accountability.
'He is protecting the wrongdoers, not the ANC,' the member said.
Faku has did not respond to queries sent to her via WhatsApp.
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