Ousted eThekwini deputy mayor Philani Mavundla wishes the ANC well after he is booted

Abantu Batho Congress (ABC) president Philani Mavundla watched helplessly within the ANC section of the eThekwini council as members of the ruling party all voted him out of the executive committee.

In a protracted council meeting on Tuesday, Mavundla was ousted as the member of council and, in this way, deputy mayor of the City when the ANC and the EFF formed the majority of the 125 votes to have him removed.

The motion to remove Mavundla had formed a week-long debate since he confirmed that he was aware of the plot to oust him on Thursday. He responded by lodging a court interdict against such a move, saying he hadn’t been given prior notice, as per the rules with regards to unseating a member of the executive committee.

Speaker Thabani Nyawose, who was listed as the first respondent, then filed an answering affidavit saying that there was no such plan ahead of the Thursday meeting but an urgent motion had since been lodged and he was considering it.

Although Mavundla got the interim order, the motion went ahead after a lengthy debate on Tuesday.

Nyawose explained why they proceeded with the urgent motion.

“The court order said ‘do not entertain the urgent motion if you are not in full compliant with the law. Standing here in front of all the citizens of eThekwini I can safely report to you that I’m happy and I’m satisfied, as the speaker of council, that we have complied with all the laws including something that is not captured in our regulations: a view from the judge. We have complied with that because the motion has been circulated to all councillors as per the advice from court,” he said.

The urgent motion was tabled by ANC councillor Yolanda Young. Providing motivation for her motion and why it’s urgent, Young said the relationship between Mavundla and the ANC had deteriorated to an extent that it was causing bad publicity for the municipality in both the media and council meetings.

“The municipality council further notes that there are outstanding service delivery items that are attracting bad publicity, such as poor maintenance of the municipality infrastructure, state of the beaches, water shortages and electricity,” she said.

Speaking to TimesLIVE in reaction to the outcomes of the meeting and Young’s reasons for the motion to remove him, Mavundla said as the ABC "was not ready to trade their values to maintain good relations with the ANC".

“If the deteriorating relationship means I’m no one’s ‘boy’, then I’m fine, that’s how I’m wired. If we have to be friends because I agree with what is against the principles I believe in, then I won’t do that. If that’s the kind of relationship they’re looking for, then they can find it elsewhere but not with ABC,” he said.

“In as far as the performance, the pools and the beaches that she says are not okay: that is not my cluster. That is not part of what I’m in the council for, someone else is in charge of that.”

Thabani Mthethwa, the DA’s eThekwini leader, said he was not privy to the contents of the deal between the ABC and the ANC. However, on the issues of performance, Mncwango said the ANC was scapegoating Mavundla. The DA voted against removing Mavundla.

“Mavundla is just being made the fall guy here. The issues of infrastructure have been outstanding for more than a decade now. I think some of the issues should’ve [been] resolved long before Mavundla joined. The ANC as a whole must take responsibility, they can’t put that solely on him,” he said.

“Anyone who works under this broken system of governance and broken leadership in eThekwini would not perform at their optimal best… blaming Mavundla for the failures that span over a decade is really unfair.”

The IFP councillors were all noticeably absent for the second successive meeting, as they were also absent on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the EFF, who supported the motion to dismiss Mavundla, said his demise was a point of "chickens coming home to roost".

“Remember we’re in this mess because of the same PG (Mavundla). Last year we were part of the same bloc that was pushing a serious campaign to take the ANC out of power here (but) at the 11th hour PG Mavundla, because he’s driven by greed, power and prestige, decided to sell us out. So we feel nothing for him,” said Sam Mvubu, EFF’s eThekwini chairperson.

He said them voting with the ANC was not a sign of any partnership between the two parties going forward.

“As we said, Mavundla is an enemy of the people of eThekwini as a whole. He’s not a principled man, I saw the DA say he is a principled man. They are the same DA who lost the mayorship position through the sellout position of Mavundla.”

On the collaboration of the ANC and EFF to vote him out of council, Mavundla said: “when the ANC needed partners I was the only one that was available to support them with my bloc. If the ANC has now found a better partner then all the best, we’re in politics here. In future, the ANC will need me or the EFF may need me. That’s how it works, so let’s see where it takes them.”

“What I want to put out there is that: EFF in 2016 had only eight councillors. In 2021 [they]  managed to have 24 councillors, they have grown three times over. If the ANC thinks Mavundla is a problem because he’s growing faster than them, it makes me feel good if they think it’s not the same with the EFF. If the EFF grows three times, as they have done, it means they will be bigger than the ANC come 2026, I’ll be waiting, watching the space.”

On the relationship of the bloc that he leads and the ANC, he said the ANC had managed to dismantle it.

“The ANC has eaten into the bloc to a point where there is very little left, that’s why they really believe that now I don’t have any power. Let’s admit now that it’s true because they have managed to do that. Since we put them in power they have been really lobbying, targeting members of the bloc to support them. Good strategy on that one, they have managed to beat me. Let’s see how far that’s gonna last,” he said.

Overall though, Mavundla maintained that his recall was unlawful as it went against Monday’s interim order and said he would be ready to prove that when they return to court on February 3 2023.

The council will resume its activities January 15 2023.

TimesLIVE