By Sihle Mavuso
ActionSA has named three seasoned KwaZulu-Natal councillors as mayoral candidates in eThekwini, KwaDukuza (Stanger) and Newcastle, promising that they will put South Africans first once they take office.
In eThekwini, the Herman Mashaba-led Party named Zwakele Mncwango as the mayoral candidate.
Mncwango is a seasoned politician, having served both under the DA and ActionSA and kept the ANC on its toes and exposed several corruption scandals.
In KwaDukuza (Stanger), the party named Halalisani Ndlovu as the mayoral candidate. Ndlovu is currently serving as a councillor in the same municipality. In Newcastle, the party named Zwe Nxumalo as its mayoral candidate, and like Mncwango and Ndlovu, Nxumalo is also serving as a councillor in the same municipality.
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Giving marching orders before unveiling the candidates, Mashaba told the candidates that they should put South Africans first, even saying they would not be in office to serve Lagos or Harare, an apparent reference to Nigerians and Zimbabweans allegedly living in South Africa illegally.
He also said that for the longest time, South Africans have been abused under the name of ubuntu and said the time to temporarily suspend ubuntu and put the rule of law first has come.
Speaking after being announced as the mayoral candidate of eThekwini, Mncwango said they are not interested in positions but want their main five priorities to be respected. Amongst the priorities are service delivery, fighting corruption, reclaiming hijacked buildings and establishing a specialised Durban metro police unit to fight illegal immigration in Durban.
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He said they would support routine lifestyle audits for municipal officials and councillors.
“We will conduct annual lifestyle audits for senior officials and all councillors. We have to know how you live, when you join the council we must know what you have, so you must declare. As you carry on, we have to know what you have acquired so that we can spot the corrupt,” Mncwango said, adding that they will also protect whistleblowers.
Ndlovu said KwaDukuza would follow the pattern of Dr Nasiphi Moya of Tshwane and make sure that all those illegally connected to the power grid are penalized equally. He said big businesses should face the same consequences as a poor household for bypassing systems and illegally connecting themselves to the grid.
“We are going to ensure the enforcement of our by-laws,” he said.
Nxumalo invited the people of Newcastle to walk with him to revive the once thriving regional town and fight corruption.
Giving her message of support via recorded video, the leader of March and March Movement, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, told ActionSA delegates to vote for political parties that put South Africans first on November 4.
“Let’s make sure that when the 4th of November comes, we do not make the mistake of choosing people who do not choose us,” she said in an indirect endorsement for ActionSA.
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