A councillor who has been earning a salary while in prison for more than a year, has finally been removed as a member of the city council.
Since May 2022, Ward 101 councillor Muzimuni Ngiba has been in prison awaiting trial for the 2021 murder of ANC ward candidates Siyabonga Mkhize and Mzukisi Nyanga.
Requests from opposition parties to remove him had fallen on deaf ears, until last Friday, September 29, when the municipality removed him for non-attendance of three consecutive council meetings.
This was tabled by eThekwini Speaker Thabani Nyawose during a council meeting last Friday. Mr Ngiba was removed, having been found guilty of breaching the Code of Conduct for Councillors, by being absent from a Municipal Council for more than three consecutive meetings without being granted leave.
“Having been found in breach, it was resolved that a recommendation be submitted to the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), that Ngiba be removed from office in line with item 16(2)(e) of Schedule 7 of the Code of Conduct for Councillors contained in the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, No 117 of 1998,” said Mr Nyawose.
“In June 2023, the Municipal Council’s recommendation was communicated with the office (of the) COGTA MEC seeking concurrence to implement the recommendation to remove Ngiba from office. The COGTA MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi has since responded to the Speaker of Council, upholding the Council’s decision to remove Ngiba from office. They sent a letter to Ngiba in prison informing him of his removal on Thursday (September 28).”
Mr Ngiba is stands accused of murdering ANC members Mr Mkhize and Mr Nyanga while they were campaigning in the Cato Crest informal settlement in October 2021, ahead of the local government elections.
Mr Mkhize was voted ahead of Mr Ngiba as the party’s representative and went on to be elected, posthumously, as the ward councillor. Mr Ngiba subsequently stood for the ANC in the by-elections and was elected councillor. He didn’t serve for very long before being arrested for the murders, said Mr Nyawose.
Opposition parties have welcomed the removal of Mr Ngiba, with DA eThekwini caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa describing it as “long overdue”.
“We have for been calling for the removal of Ngiba, who has been in the Westville Prison for over a year. He has deprived residents of Ward 101 the opportunity to have an elected councillor representing them as required,” he said.
“During this period, the ANC protected Ngiba, used council funds to pay him a monthly salary and turned its backs against desperate residents of Mayville and Manor Gardens in Ward 101. We are happy that our party’s persistence to bring an end to the madness and for Ngiba to be fired has paid off. We made sure that justice prevails for the people of Ward 101 and the ratepayers whose funds have been misused to pay Ngiba while he was sitting in jail.”
eThekwini IFP spokesperson Mdu Nkosi said this was proof that when opposition parties united and applied pressure on the ANC, they could produce good results.
“This is a great opportunity for the people of Ward 101 to rectify their mistakes and vote differently as they have seen for themselves what voting for the ANC results in,” said Mr Nkosi.
