Makana Mayor Vumile Lwana denies the allegation that he reconstituted the council’s portfolio committees so as to "marginalise" the five councillors suspended by his party.
Makana Mayor Vumile Lwana denies the allegation that he reconstituted the council’s portfolio committees so as to "marginalise" the five councillors suspended by his party.
Lwana dismissed the allegation as baseless and maintained that councillors are not expected to stick to their committees forever and that the committees may be changed at the mayor’s discretion. "It’s a normal procedure which was practised before I was mayor," he added. Lwana came under fire from the council for making changes without consulting the councillors who haed the committees, a shortcoming which he admitted and sought the council’s forgiveness for.
He also said that the reshuffle was about taking a team of councillors who share the ANC’s vision for local development and placing them in the mayoral committee according to their individual strengths. This is because he says he expects councillors to know about more than one aspect of the municipality as their work requires them to be versatile.
Last week Democratic Alliance chief whip Michael Whisson accused the ruling party of single-handedly reconstituting the council’s committees in order to see to it that "the suspended councillors cannot absent themselves from meetings in such a way that the quorum is not met". According to Whisson, the five councillors who have been suspended by the ANC are allowed to not attend committee meetings if they disagree with the what is on the agenda. This would mean that some meetings will not reach a quorum, which would be 50% of the council plus one other person.
At the last council meeting the municipality announced that the mayoral committee be reshuffled as follows: Councillor Thuleka Ngeleza will chair the corporate services committee, Councillor Julie Wells the social services, Councillor Ntsikelelo Stamper the Budget and Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Councillor Zamuxolo Peter the land, housing and disaster management. The only member of the mayoral committee who stayed in place is Nombuleleo Masoma who heads the economic development and tourism committee.
After the reshuffling, suspended councillors Zonwabele Mantla, Xolani Simakuhle, Luyanda Nase, Nomazwi Fuku and Nomnqweno Mshubeki were left with only one committee each while the rest of the council serves on two or even three committees. Previously, only Fuku headed one committee while the other four councillors had more. Mantla was a member of three committees: budget and IDP, corporate services and land, housing and disaster management.
Also announced at the meeting were the names of the councillors that have been assigned by the council to serve on external bodies such the Rhodes University council, Grahamstown Foundation and boards of local governmental parastatals. There are no major changes to the original list, except for the fact that the suspended councillors were removed from the list.
Previously, Nase was nominated to serve on the Makana Tourism Board and the Junior City Council, Mantla was a member of the Grahamstown Foundation and the Cacadu District Council, Fuku of the Community Forum, Simakuhle the Transport Forum and Mshubeki the Health and Welfare Forum.
When Grocott’s Mail contacted the affected councillors, Mshubeki and Simakuhle reserved their comments until such time that the reasons for the changes are explained to them thoroughly.
Fuku asked Grocott’s Mail to call her later for comment while attempts to speak to Nase and Mantla drew a blank.
