The eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality is expected to hold its inaugural council meeting to elect new office bearers on Monday.
At the weekend, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal were still in talks over the fate of four hung municipalities that are considered economic hubs in the province.
They include eThekwini, uMhlathuze in Richards Bay, uMsunduzi in Pietermaritzburg and Newcastle in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Coalition talks between IFP, ANC continue in KZN:
The mutual co-operation agreement reached by the two parties stipulates that the party that received the most seats in the hung council, would govern that municipality.
ANC Provincial Spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela says, “As part of the concession that they were seeking that they be given one of the economic hubs, in particular uMhlathuze. Which we could not agree on as we are saying that if our discussions are based on the principle that where you are a majority party you must be allowed to govern. So that was the issue if you are making any concession, they might be there only the chairperson of the portfolio committees. Beyond that, there is a team led by comrade Jeff Hadebe and Narend Singh on the side of the IFP which is going to manage as we move forward that how do we manage these contradictions as they come up.”
LGE 2021 | Discussion on coalition talks and races for municipal councils: TK Pooe & Asanda Ngoasheng
