The eThekwini metro council has no authority to suspend the salary of incarcerated ANC councillor Muzimuni Ngiba, according to council speaker Thabani Nyawose.
Ngiba, a ward 101 councillor, was arrested 10 months ago for allegedly killing his comrade Siyabonga Mkhize, who was the ANC candidate councillor leading up to municipal elections in November 2021.
Despite languishing in jail, Ngiba still gets a full salary and perks.
“The speaker of council has a responsibility of following the law and processes in taking any decision,” Nyawose on Wednesday.
“There are two pieces of legislation that guide us in dealing with the payment of councillors. The first one is the Public Office Bearers Act and the Structures Act schedule 7 that deals with the code of conduct. But there is no provision which empowers the speaker to suspend any councillor’s salary.”
He was responding to a memorandum by a handful of ActionSA members who picketed outside the municipal headquarters in Durban demanding for the municipality to withhold Ngiba’s salary and terminate his councillorship.
The picket by ActionSA, which has four seats in the eThekwini council, was led by Zwakele Mncwango, the leader of the party in KwaZulu-Natal.
In an interview with Sunday World, Mncwango said ActionSA wants a vacancy declared with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), which will pave way for a by-election.
“It cannot be allowed that public funds amounting to R541 681 have been paid to a jailed councillor charged with a serious offence of murder,” Mncwango said.
“There must be an immediate discussion between the municipality, Cogta [cooperative governance and traditional affairs] and IEC to begin the process of fresh elections in ward 101 and ward 54.”
There is another case of murder in ward 54 in Inanda where three women were shot dead in a drive-by shooting near a school.
The deceased were part of a community meeting convened to vote for an ANC councillor candidate for the 2021 local government elections. The armed assassins randomly opened fire injuring a dozen of other community members.
ANC councillor Themba Mnguni was arrested and linked to the murder. Although he was ordered to step aside, he continues to draw a salary every month.
Nyawose said by the end of May, the council will have adopted a procedure on how to move forward, insisting that it is pushing to dump Ngiba as a councillor.
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