The African National Congress (ANC) filed an urgent high court application following the election of the mayor, deputy mayor, and speaker at the Alfred Duma Municipal Inauguration which was held on Monday, 22 November, at the Ladysmith Indoor Sports Centre.
The application was filed in Pietermaritzburg on 25 November claiming that the ANC was dissatisfied with the way in which the IEC conducted the election process of the speaker, mayor and deputy mayor as well as the appointment of the executive council.
The matter was heard in the high court but was postponed to 14 December. UThukela District Municipality told The Ladysmith Herald that the municipality would like to give clarity to the community and political parties concerned about the actual reasons that have led to the series of inauguration ceremony postponements. “On the council meeting scheduled for 26 November, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) only sent us the names of the new councillors after office hours on 24 November. This after we had already given up and cancelled the preparations for the meeting as we did not know who to invite,” said Communications Manager for uThukela District Municipality, Jabulani Mkhonza.
Then, on Monday, 29 November, the municipality received a court order with instructions for the meeting scheduled for 2 December to be postponed to 14 December when the High Court will hear the case relating to the Alfred Duma Municipality. “We also wish to state that the pressure exerted by political parties to have the sitting of the meeting has prompted the municipal manager to seek a legal opinion on the interpretation of the court order. The legal opinion came back saying that there should be no meeting otherwise the convenor will be in contempt of court.” Based on the above factors, the official announcement is that there shall be no meeting held until after 14 December as per the court order. “We therefore request political parties to furnish the names of authorised representatives to the office of the municipal manager so that they are involved in the planning for the first council meeting,” concluded uThukela District Municipality.
