Both the ANC and the DA have elected candidates to contest the controversial Ward 1 by-elections later this month, which have seen Phumlani residents completely excluded from the process.
Both the ANC and the DA have elected candidates to contest the controversial Ward 1 by-elections later this month, which have seen Phumlani residents completely excluded from the process.
This is despite the fact that they voted there in the last local government elections. In an unlikely combination, Ward 1 comprises Phumlani and Riebeeck East.
A complicated process regarding Phumlani's participation in the by-elections planned for 22 July has at last come to finalisation.
However, it seems this process has further confused residents of the area.
Phumlani resident Andile Hoyi was elected to lead a task team formed to find out why residents from the area were excluded from the by-elections.
Hoyi believes the IEC and the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) have failed the residents of Phumlani.
He has been vocal about the fact that both bodies should have sent representatives to address the residents in person to eliminate any confusion.
ANC Sarah Baartman regional secretary, Scara Njadayi, this week confirmed that the matter had been finalised.
Njadayi told Grocott's Mail that Phumlani residents will not take part in the by-elections.
"We have even elected a candidate. We registered our candidate on Monday," he said.
Njadayi said they had elected former Makana Chief Whip and Ward 4 councillor, Melikhaya Phongolo, as the ANC's candidate in the elections.
Tempers flared in a special meeting last month convened by Council Speaker, Rachel Madinda-Isaac, to discuss Phumlani's exclusion.
The by-elections, planned for 22 July, come as a result of the death of Ward 1 councillor Nomhle Ngoqo on 5 May. Ngoqo, elected to the position in 2011, was a resident of Phumlani.
Municipal by-elections take place within 90 days after a municipal ward council seat becomes vacant due to either death, expulsion or resignation of a ward councillor.
A tent was erected for a special meeting on the Phumlani Park grounds late last month, attended by Madinda-Isaac, mayor Zamuxolo Peter, the then acting municipal manager, Mandisi Planga and ANC councillors Nomhle Gaga, Malibongwe Khubalo, Ernest Louw, Nombulelo Masoma and Boniwe Bonani.
DA Caucus leader Les Reynolds said they were a bit shocked by the exclusion of Phumlani given the fact that it is a heavily ANC-populated ward.
He said this somewhat played to their favour.
The DA has nominated Riebeeck East resident, Cary Clark, as their candidate for the by-election.
Reynolds described Clark who owns a guest house in the small town as a person who has been an activist for a while there.
"She put her name forward and she was elected as the proposed candidate for the DA in the Ward," he said.
The MDB had indicated that if Phumlani residents were allowed to vote in Ward 1 during the 2011 local government elections, then they should be able to vote in the by-elections.
Responding to questions Grocott's Mail sent early last month, MDB Stakeholder Management and Media Relations Specialist, Bulelwa Mbali-Khoele, said, "We would not like to speculate on this matter.
"However, if the community in that area indeed voted in that ward in 2011 they are still certainly part of the ward according to the 2011 ward boundary determinations."
Mbali-Khoele said the matter should be handled by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
"The Municipal Demarcation Board has never made any changes to ward boundaries since 2011," she added.
The current ward delimitation process has not yet been finalised and the new ward boundaries (for this current process) will only take effect in 2016, according to Mbali-Khoele.
In her response to Grocott's Mail IEC Communication and Stakeholder Liaison officer, Pearl Ngoza said the matter had been forwarded to Provincial Electoral Officer Thami Mraji for purposes of fully explaining the circumstances of the matter.
Ngoza pointed out that a pertinent principle of our country's electoral edifice is that a ward councillor is elected by voters who reside within the voting districts that constitute a ward.
"Therefore, were voters who do not reside within the voting districts that constitute Ward 1 allowed to vote, such a by-election stands to be set aside on this reason alone," Ngoza said.
She said it stands to reason that the commission can not knowingly facilitate an unlawful voting practice.
Phumlani residents had appointed a task-team consisting of 10 members to challenge Phumlani's exclusion from the highly-contested election, led by Hoyi.
Hoyi said it was up to the residents to decide if they acceptt that decision or not.
He said he would call a community meeting next week to brief them about what happened.
"As the task team we can not say it's right or wrong, we depend on the residents' response," he said.
Hoyi said it was not clear how the decision to exclude Phumlani from Ward 1 was reached.
He said he was planning to send more questions to the IEC asking for more specific responses.
anele@grocotts.co.za
