ActionSA is angry that its motion to propose that the Durban metro police must establish a special unit to fight illegal immigration, crime, drug dealing, and hijacking of buildings was watered down.
The party’s councillor, Zwakele Mncwango, put up the motion for debate and voting during a special council sitting in Durban.
Mcwango wanted the council to vote on the matter and have the special wing established so that it could focus on the three crimes.
Task team already in place
When the matter was tabled, the ANC, through its councillor, Ntando Khuzwayo, proposed an amendment to the motion. He said there is already a team tackling these crimes, which are rampant in the city centre and the beachfront.
“There already exists a team on this. And EXCO receives periodic reports on this and reports to council,” Khuzwayo said as part of his amendment.
The proposed amendment was supported by other political partie. Councillor Vukani Ndlovu of the EFF said the unit should involve all those involved in illegal activities. Also joining the fray was the deputy mayor, Prudence Myeni, from the National Freedom Party (NFP). The party said there is already a similar unit.
“There is already collaboration on the matter,” Myeni said in support of Khuzwayo’s amendment.
Speaker Nyawose then asked whether the amendment was supported, and the house voted yes. He then asked them to endorse the amended motion, which was done.
‘ANC protecting illegal foreigners’
That angered Mncwango who after the sitting said it was clear that the ANC and its coalition partners in the council are fighting to protect foreign nationals
“The motion was passed by council, but I am not happy because it won’t achieve what we were recommending as ActionSA. Unfortunately the ANC came with [foolish] and silly amendments to try and protect illegal foreigners.
“They came with the nonsense of saying there is already an existing task team that deals with these issues. But what they are talking about — they talk about hijacked buildings. They don’t talk about the illegal foreigners. And they want to reduce the motion — is not to really focus on illegal foreigners.
“So, what became clear today was that both the ANC and the IFP (Inkatha Freedom Party) will do whatever it takes to protect illegal foreigners. There is no doubt about that because they didn’t want to support the motion as is,” a fuming Mncwango said.
