Last month, the Piet Retief magistrate court found Nhlanhla Mgwebu guilty and sentenced him to three years imprisonment of which six months and one year were suspended for five years. Community members are demanding his removal from the council. Picture: Supplied.
Last month, the Piet Retief magistrate court found Mgwebu guilty and sentenced Mgwebu to three years imprisonment, of which six months and one year were suspended for five years.
This was after Mgwebu was charged and sentenced for incitement, but this is not the only charge he is facing.
Among other charges, Mngwebu faces three other charges related to torture (CAS N0. 214/04/201/8), theft (CAS NO. 219/04/2009), and malicious damage to property (CAS NO. 188/04/2018).
During the last council meeting on March 27, community members disrupted council proceedings and demanded Mgwebu be removed as a councilor because he was unable to attend to issues of service delivery in the community.
In the petition, signed by the community members and seen by Sunday Independent, Mgwebu is accused of neglecting his duties and of dedicating time to the activities of his political party the ANC.
“The councillor is unsure or hesitant about the demographic profile of the ward in terms of infrastructure and land usage.
“The councillor is no longer residing in the ward, which is his grand-parental home from which his election into council came from,” read some parts of the petition.
The Mkhondo council was given seven days to respond to all the concerns and for Mgwebu to vacate his position.
According to Mkhondo TV, the community members gathered in a community hall last week where they voiced their concerns about Mgwebu’s continued membership as councillor in the municipality despite the court outcome which found him guilty.
Contacted for a comment, the acting Municipal Manager refused to comment, saying he would not comment on the issue and, he said, the speaker of the municipality was in a better position to respond.
However, speaker Mduduzi Ngwenya said he was not made aware of the matter about Mgwebu’s sentence and refused to comment.
He refused to comment despite the fact he was present when the council was disrupted by the community when they demanded Mgwebu’s removal from the council.
On Thursday, the publication attempted to solicit a comment from Mgwebu, but he said he was in a meeting and asked to be contacted at a letter stage, but did not respond when contacted again.
It was uncertain whether Mgwebu had appealed the court’s decision to imprison him for three years.
The Chief Whip of Council, Daniel Thwala, said he was not aware of Mgwebu’s sentence. He said that he would consult the municipality’s legal department for clarification.
Asked whether or not he was present when the community members disrupted the last council meeting and demanded Mgwebu’s removal, he said that the disruption was about service delivery.
“They handed over a petition raising concerns about service delivery and other issues. In the petition, the name of Mgwebu also came up but we promised to meet and respond to the petition on Friday,” said Thwala.
He further said he should have been contacted by Sunday Independent last Friday for feedback on the matter of the petition.
According to the Municipal Systems Act 2000, a person convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine is disqualified from remaining a councillor of the municipality concerned, and from becoming a councillor of any municipality for five years from the conviction.
Section 158(1)(c) of the Constitution (read with section 47(1)(e)), states that “anyone who is convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine” is disqualified from serving as an elected representative.
Such a disqualification lasts for five years “after the sentence has been completed”.
This is because section 27(c) of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act states that any councillor elected from a party list who “ceases to be a member of the relevant party” automatically loses his or her seat in the municipal council, while section 27(f)(i) states that a ward councillor who was nominated by a party as a candidate in the ward election and ceases to be a member of that party also loses his or her seat automatically.
Sources within the municipality told Sunday Independent that Mgwebu was previously employed as a teacher before he was dismissed after facing several complaints.
thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za