The Democratic Alliance has called for the immediate resignation of KwaZulu-Natal MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi.
This follows a ruling by the Pietermaritzburg High Court which allowed Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi to postpone the municipal by-elections to June.
According to News24, the MEC was lambasted for her failure to facilitate the elections and slapped her with the costs order.
They further reported that Sithole-Moloi asked the court to postpone the elections to mid-June citing a series of administrative issues and a late response by the Electoral Commission (IEC).
The affected municipalities are Umvoti, Nongoma, Umzumbe, Mthonjaneni and uPongolo districts.
The DA said: “Without a by-election, there is a leadership vacuum, creating an untenable situation for residents who have nowhere to turn.
“This as most of KZN’s people are already suffering poor service delivery.”
News24 further reported that according to the order the municipalities will be without councillors until June.
The order read: “The failure of the MEC to ensure [or take all reasonable steps to ensure] that all by-elections concerning [these] municipalities occur on or before the effluxion of the 90-day period contemplated in Section 25 (3) (d) of the Structures Act is declared to be inconsistent with the Constitution and invalid.”
The DA said that fact that the court ruled that MEC Sithole-Moloi acted unconstitutionally it is cause for immediate dismissal.
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