NONCEDO Zonke, previously the IPED director, was appointed as IYM’s new mayor last week.
This follows after the former Inxuba Yethemba Municipality (IYM) executive mayor, Ray Shweni, as well as council whip, Thembisile Bobo, officially resigned last week Wednesday, February 26, during a council meeting held in Cradock.
Nyameka Goniwe, who was mayor from 2011 to 2016, was appointed as speaker, while the new chief whip is Maria Nortjé (previously speaker of IYM).
The resignations of last week followed pressure placed on them following a report from the Public Protector, as well as internal and external interventions by the Democratic Alliance and the community at large.
Last year, Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, found Shweni and other councillors guilty of misappropriating public funds.
Mkhwebane stated in her report that Shweni and other involved ANC councillors were guilty of “irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure.”
As a remedial action, a special committee had to be established by IYM Speaker, Maria Nortjé, to investigate whether the conduct of Shweni was in breach of the code of conduct for municipal councillors, in terms of the Municipal Structures Act.
Finally, early this year a report by the duly established municipal ethics committee to the Eastern Cape MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Xolile Nqatha, recommended that Shweni be removed as councillor.
Joe Newton, chairperson of the Middelburg Business and Ratepayers Forum, said the forum could only see any change in the people who manage Eastern Cape municipalities as a positive step.
“Our municipalities are in a shocking financial state due to bad fiscal admin. We have a non-political view on this, and would just like competent people in the right positions so that all people in our town and surrounding areas benefit,” Newton said.
