DURBAN - The race for eThekwini Municipality’s Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) chairperson has begun.
The position became vacant after ActionSA fired Dr Makhosi Khoza both as a member and the councillor last week. The position is expected to be filled in a full council meeting on Thursday.
The DA which lost it to Khoza last year confirmed that it will contest the position.
The party’s caucus leader Nicole Graham said they would field the party’s candidate for the position. The committee is made up of five major parties which are ANC, DA, EFF, IFP and ActionSA.
In terms of the policy, the chair must be elected from the committee members. Insiders told the Daily News that the ANC would want to give it to the smaller parties as a reward for their help to maintain power in the city but the difficulty would be that small parties are not represented in the committee.
Another source said that it was highly unlikely that ActionSA would keep the position because the ANC gave it to Khoza as a reward for voting with it during the inaugural council last year. Khoza had denied that she entered into a deal before but refused to disclose who she voted for between DA candidate Nicole and the ANC’s Mxolisi Kaunda.
The IFP’s Mdu Nkosi said dynamics have since changed from the inaugural meeting and anything can happen when full council votes for the MPAC position. He said he was aware that some small parties that voted with ANC to retain power in the city were no longer happy and they could vote for a candidate running against the one favoured by the ANC.
Attempts to get ANC chief whip Thembo Ntuli were unsuccessful but a senior ANC councillor who asked not to be named, said the party had not yet decided whether it would contest the position or give it to other parties.
Daily News