Durban - The DA in uMngeni Local Municipality, in Howick in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands on Monday officially started its first day in office in the council after ousting the ANC as the governing party following the local government elections earlier this month.
The road to the party’s inauguration was not without its hiccups as the initial inauguration, which had been scheduled for last week, did not go ahead after the suspended municipal manager Thembeka Cibane showed up to preside over the ceremony after acting municipal manager Sandile Buthelezi had not showed up to preside over the first council sitting.
This saw both the DA and EFF staging a walkout and the DA heading to court where the court ruled in their favour and compelled Buthelezi to preside over the council’s first sitting which he did on Monday.
At the sitting, the DA’s Christopher Pappas was officially appointed and sworn in as mayor, while his comrades in the DA, Sandile Mnikathi and Janis Holmes, formerly the DA’s caucus leader in the council, were sworn in as deputy mayor and speaker of the council respectively.
At the November 1 polls the DA won the majority of the votes in uMngeni with 47.4% of the votes getting them 13 seats in the council beating the ANC who managed 39.1% of the votes and 10 seats with the EFF only managing 6.9% of the votes which saw them receive just two seats in the council.
In the previous administration, from 2016 to 2021, the council was under the governance of the ANC which had the outright majority following the 2016 edition of the local government elections.
Following that year’s elections, the ANC had managed 55% of the votes and 13 seats with the DA in opposition with 41% of the votes and 10 seats and the EFF only receiving 1.4% of the votes but not enough to get a seat.
samkelo.mtshali@inl.co.za
Political Bureau