The former mayor of South Africa’s Durban city Zandile Gumede has been forced to resign from the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Provincial legislature following nationwide criticism, APA learnt on Friday.
Gumede is facing fraud and corruption charges in court for her handling of a US$12 million waste disposal tender when she was mayor of the Indian Ocean port city.
She, however, surprised the nation for being sworn-in into the provincial parliament as a member of the legislature.
She was apparently redeployed to it by the African National Congress party’s KZN branch to the dismay of the opposition, civil society organisations and President Cyril Ramaphosa himself – the head of the ruling party.
Responding to the immense pressure, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal said it had reversed its decision to redeploy Gumede to the regional legislature following a meeting it held in Durban to discuss the controversy on Friday.
On his part, Ramaphosa had criticised the ruling party’s KwaZulu-Natal leaders for redeploying Gumede while she faced the fraud and corruption allegations.
The 2017 ANC conference resolutions, as part of its fight against corruption, called for the disassociation of tainted party comrades till the charges against them were cleared.
NM/jn/APA