ANC-led municipalities face mayoral shake-up

THE two embattled ANC-led local municipalities, Msunduzi and Mpendle, in the Moses Mabhida region (Pietermaritzburg) of KwaZulu-Natal could have new mayors by the end of next week, following their performance assessment by the newly elected regional task team.

- WILLEM PHUNGULA

The team led by Nathi Mdlala as convener and former Cosatu provincial secretary Zet Luzipo as coordinator, was expected to present its assessment report and recommendations to the provincial leadership this weekend.

Sources that have seen the report said it had recommended a strong political intervention at the two municipalities, which many viewed as a recommendation for the removal of the political heads at these struggling entities.

"Everyone is seeing how Mzimkhulu Thebolla has struggled to run Msunduzi since taking over from Themba Njilo in 2019. With all interventions that have been tried not yielding positive results, the ANC has run out of options but to remove him; otherwise, the opposition will eat us for lunch in the next year's elections," said the source.

Mdladla confirmed that his team will present its assessment report to the provincial structure in a meeting that will take place in Durban this weekend.