DURBAN - ETHEKWINI Municipality speaker Weziwe Thusi’s political career appears to have come to an end, after she was left off the ANC list submitted to the Electoral Commission of SA.
Thusi has downplayed her omission from the list, saying that when the ANC asked her to be the speaker she was already in retirement. She said she was 69 and had retired from the legislature in 2019, so there was nothing wrong with her not being on the list.
“At 69 years old, I’m old now. I wanted to retire but as an ANC member I could not refuse when they asked me to be the speaker. It was for the duration of this term. As members we cannot refuse any deployment even if you are on retirement,” said Thusi.
She was brought to the municipality and appointed as speaker in 2019 after the ANC removed former mayor Zandile Gumede and many in the municipality’s executive committee (Exco). She was the Social Development MEC until the 2019 elections.
Regarding Diana Hoorzuk’s position as deputy mayor-elect, the Constitutional Court’s ruling on Friday that the local government elections must be held between October 27 and November 1 appears to have dealt a blow to her chances of being elected.
With less than two months to go to the elections, she appears unlikely to take up the deputy mayor post in the next term as she is at number 47 on the ANC list – although it is not guaranteed that the top 10 people on the list are selected for troika (mayor, deputy and speaker) positions as well as to the Exco, as that depends on how the party performs in the elections.
Hoorzuk told the Daily News on Sunday that she did not care where she was on the list because as a disciplined ANC cadre she was prepared to serve anywhere the party sent her.
It was up to the ANC to decide whether it would still appoint her as deputy mayor with less than two months to go to the elections, she said.
Hoorzuk was brought in to take up the position, which apparently angered senior ANC councillors, who felt undermined by the party.
The councillors allegedly rebelled and refused to go to the full council meeting in July where she was supposed to have been voted into the position.
Daily News