The African National Congress (ANC) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) are in the midst of a court battle over the control of the Mtubatuba Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

Last month, the Pietermaritzburg High Court granted the IFP an order instructing the speaker to convene a special council meeting.

The IFP wants to remove the Speaker, Mayor and Deputy Mayor through a motion of no confidence.

Mtubatuba is one of the hung municipalities where there was no outright winner after November’s Local Government Elections.

IFP chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal, Thamsanqa Ntuli, says the speaker must adhere to the court order.

“We are urging the leadership of the municipality to adhere to the judgment. So that the will of the people of Mtubatuba is the one that will prevail. The majority of the councillors have submitted a petition where they want the re-election.”

“They believe what happened in Mtubatuba was not in line with the wishes of the voters of Mtubatuba. We also believe this will also impact on uMkhanyakude [District Municipality], since the representative of Mtubatuba to the district excluded the majority of the councillors,” says Ntuli.

The video below looks at service delivery in Mtubatuba Municipality: