While suspended Buffalo City Metro Development Agency (BCMDA) CEO Bulumko Nelana thought he had received a reprieve this week, when on Tuesday the high court in Makhanda reversed his October suspension, his joy however was short-lived. The agency’s interim board went for the jugular and terminated his contract on Wednesday afternoon, his first day back in office since early October.
The ruling ANC in the Buffalo City Metro is on a collision course with opposition parties after it filed a motion to rescind a council resolution meant to deal with Awol councillors. In August, the council decided to refer a report on attendance of councillors at meetings of the council, including committees, to the conduct committee for investigation.
Just days before their scheduled weekend elective conference, the Oscar Mabuyane-aligned faction in the Dr WB Rubusana ANC region ditched Lunga Nqam in favour of BCM’s deputy mayor Princess Faku, who is now touted as the next ANC regional chair in the metro. Nqam had been bandied around as the face of their campaign.
While the Dr WB Rubusana ANC regional elective conference remains interdicted by the court, two senior Buffalo City Metro ANC councillors, Ncedo Kumbaca and Sakhumzi Caga, have officially thrown their hats into the ring in the race for the region’s looming ANC chairmanship battle. The two seasoned politicians join former regional chairperson Phumlani Mkolo and businessman Lunga Nqam in a four-way battle for the party’s top political position in the region, when its elective conference eventu.