eThekwini municipality removes murder-accused councillor Mzimuni Ngiba

The eThekwini municipality has removed incarcerated murder-accused ward councillor Mzimuni Ngiba as a member of its council.

This after KZN co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) MEC Bongi Sithole-Moloi approved the decision to do so.

Ngiba was charged with breaching the councillor’s code of conduct after missing more than three consecutive council and committee meetings without apologising.

In May, the eThekwini council unanimously voted in favour of approving the ward 101 councillor's removal, exactly a year after his arrest, leaving it up to Cogta to finalise the matter.

Speaker Thabani Nyawose announced, during a council meeting on Thursday, that the department upheld that decision.

Ngiba is accused of shooting dead ANC members Siyabonga Mkhize and Mzukisi Nyanga while they were campaigning in the Cato Crest informal settlement in October 2021, ahead of local government elections.

Mkhize was voted ahead of Ngiba as the party’s representative and went on to be elected, posthumously, as the ward councillor.

Ngiba then stood for the ANC in by-elections and was elected councillor, but didn’t serve long before he was arrested for the murders.

He has been in custody since May 2022, first at the Westville Correctional Services Centre, then at Kokstad Super Maximum Prison.

Nyawose was accused by opposition parties of being slow to act against Ngiba after it emerged he was getting paid while in prison.

However, the council speaker maintained he handled the matter carefully because a wrong recommendation or decision would’ve brought the council into disrepute.

The city will take direction from the Independent Electoral Commission on the way forward.

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