NELSPRUIT, May 4 (ANA) - The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has charged 13 proportional representation (PR) councillors who work in some Mpumalanga municipalities with various alleged offences including poor performance and defying its instruction to pay a 10 percent levy from their salaries to its coffers every month, the party said on Friday.
Provincial chairman of the EFF Collen Sedibe told the African News Agency (ANA) that the alleged poor performance was related to the EFF’s organisational work. He said another charge was for councillors who had side jobs.
“They must be permanent in their jobs as councillors and get one salary,” said Sedibe.
“The other charges are for their failure to convene community meetings bi-monthly and for not campaigning for the by-elections. All the charged councillors have not been suspended from the EFF and the municipalities they serve. These councillors know that they are on the wrong side of the organisation’s code of conduct.”
Some of the councillors appeared before the EFF’s internal disciplinary committee hearing in Mbombela on April 28, while others were expected to face the hearing soon, added Sedibe.
He said one of the charged councillors, Lebo Dlamini from Kwaggafontein near KwaMhlanga, works in an unnamed ward under the Thembisile Hani Local Municipality.
Sedibe did not reveal the names of the other councillors but said they were serving in various municipalities including the Mbombela; Bushbuckridge; and Dr JS Moroka Local Municipalities.
Dlamini, who is a former SABC1 Ndebele weather presenter, confirmed to ANA that she received a letter from the EFF’s leadership last week, to appear in a disciplinary hearing in Mbombela on April 28. She declined to comment further on the matter.
Sedibe said it was up to the EFF’s disciplinary committee to decide on the kind of punishment to be imposed on the councillors after they were found guilty of the charges they faced. He said the acts of punishment might include expulsion from the party, a written warning or a fine.
- African News Agency (ANA)
