On 24 May 2019, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) exposed, in the form of recordings, the until then, widely speculated allegations of corruption of the Inkatha Freedom Party’s (IFP) uMzinyathi District Municipality Mayor. The allegations pertained to the siphoning off of funds from that municipality.
In an Isolezwe newspaper article on the 3rd of June, IFP Spokesperson, Mr Mkhuleko Hlengwa, was quoted saying that the IFP was investigating the matter.
On 7 June, during a live talk-show hosted by Ikhwezi FM, the mayor, who was cornered by the UDM KwaZulu-Natal Interim Provincial Secretary, admitted that the voice on the recordings was his. He therefore owned up to the content of those recordings.
More allegations of corruption, where the mayor was involved, were published by the Daily Sun on 28 June. Mr Hlengwa was again quoted saying that the IFP was investigating that matter too!
The IFP does not seem to be in the least concerned about these compromising claims and allegations about their deployed mayor, whom has apparently rendered the district as a total failure in the core function of providing water to this community; yet the yearly budget is committed and exhausted without any provision of what it was earmarked for.
The UDM calls on the IFP to come clean about whether its mayor is siphoning off funds from this municipality’s service providers as a directive from itself or not. If not, the IFP must respect the community of the uMzinyathi district by removing their seemingly corrupt mayor with immediate effect and conclude its never-ending and ineffectual investigation into these allegations.
Statement issued by
Mr Boysey Gumede
UDM KwaZulu-Natal Interim Provincial Secretary
