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Johannesburg - Four Eastern Cape councillors in the Inkwanca local municipality have been suspended from the ANC for five years for ignoring a directive on the handling of a forensic report into alleged corruption.
The ANC's national disciplinary committee (NDC) dismissed the councillors appeal after the provincial disciplinary committee (PDC) found them guilty, national chairperson Derek Hanekom said.
The four - Ntandazo Qamngwana, Ntsikelelo Cwebi, Kem Jonga and Nombulelo Yaliwe - were found guilty after they failed to implement the recommendations made in the Kabuso forensic report.
The NDC found that: "The act of misconduct was so severe that it warranted the intervention of the MEC for local government" and that the councillors, "not only breached the trust that the ANC placed in them, but also let down the community that was dependent on them for the provision of basic services".
Hanekom said the NDC felt that the PDC was lenient on the councillors for only suspending them when the offence warranted expulsion from the ANC.
"Since the ANC did not place evidence in aggravation of sanction before it, the NDC decided not to interfere with the sanction imposed by the PDC," he said.
Local Government MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane reportedly instituted the investigation after allegations surfaced of maladministration, fraud, corruption and nepotism in the municipality.
In September last year, the municipality was placed under administration after it lost a court battle to have the forensic report set aside.
The Eastern Cape High Court in Grahamstown ruled in May last year that the investigation’s recommendations be implemented.
The ANC has been trying to sort out issues of political infighting in the Eastern Cape which seem to be causing problems within the municipalities.
This is ahead of next year's local government elections.
In a bid to sort out issues and keep voters happy in its biggest region in the province, the ruling party replaced the mayor in Nelson Mandela Bay metro with SA Football Association boss Danny Jordaan.
Jordaan is expected to be sworn in at a council meeting on Thursday.
