Durban — The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in KwaZulu-Natal has rewritten history by appointing the youngest mayor again in the province.
The party has entrusted the 27-year-old Mcebo Mkhize to lead the troubled Endumeni Local Municipality in Dundee, north-west of the province. Mkhize was appointed on Tuesday ending weeks of leadership vacuum in the tiny municipality with only 13 seats.
Mkhize, who is an IFP youth leader in Dundee, replaced Siyabonga Ndlovu. The IFP asked Ndlovu to step down following his fall out with the IFP’s long standing partner, the Democratic Alliance.
Ndlovu resigned as both mayor and a councillor earlier this month allegedly due to the mounting pressure from the DA which had already filed a motion of no confidence against him.
To show that the DA had no problem with the IFP but Ndlovu, the DA helped Mkhize win the votes against ANC’s Zitha Shelembe by seven to six votes. In the 13-seat council, IFP and ANC have five aside while the DA holds two and Philani Mavundla’s Abantu Batho Congress has one. ANC and the ABC voted together while the DA assisted the IFP to cling onto power in the Endumeni Municipality.
Welcoming the new mayor, the DA caucus leader and the executive committee member Saleem Abdool. He said that as a young person, Mkhize will be guided and assisted.
“In my opinion he must be given an opportunity to prove himself to work in the interest of service delivery to the people,” said Abdool.
Speaking on behalf of the IFP in the municipality, councillor Xolani Msezane thanked his party and the DA councillors for ensuring a smooth process during the election of the mayor. He said the party leadership also ironed out differences that had threatened the coalition under Ndlovu’s tenure which led to the DA filing a vote of no confidence against Ndlovu.
The municipality has been without leadership for three weeks, and on Thursday last week, the council meeting was cancelled at the last minute after a bomb scare, which turned out to be a hoax.
After the 2016 Local government elections, IFP made history by appointing the 30-year-old Siboniso Mbatha as the youngest mayor of the same municipality. However, he did not finish his term after he was arrested in 2018 for allegedly plotting to assassinate the then Speaker Bongiwe Mbatha. The mayor was acquitted but he was subsequently removed by the IFP.
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