ActionSA rejects Xolani Khumalo’s Ekurhuleni MMC appointment, refuses to join ‘failed’ government
ActionSA has rejected the appointment of its Ekurhuleni councillor Xolani Khumalo as MMC under Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza.
Image: Itumeleng English/ Independent Newspapers
ActionSA, led by Herman Mashaba, has officially rejected the appointment of Ekurhuleni councillor and media personality Xolani Khumalo as a Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) in the City of Ekurhuleni, saying it will not be part of what it calls a corrupt and failed administration under Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza.
Khumalo was announced as Ekurhuleni’s new MMC for community services and by-law enforcement as part of Xhakaza’s newly unveiled mayoral committee.
However, ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said Xhakaza reached out to the party, and his offer was flatly refused.
“ActionSA is perplexed by this announcement. Obviously the mayor has been burning up the telephone lines to ActionSA leadership and our local structures, trying to bring us into this coalition,” Beaumont told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika on Wednesday morning.
“Certainly, our structures have listened at all times and indicated that we are not available. As late as last night, a meeting was called with the so-called group of parties that may support this new coalition government, and ActionSA made itself unavailable for that meeting because we don’t want to form part of what is clearly becoming a corrupt and failed government.”
Beaumont said the party had formally communicated its position to the mayor.
ActionSA’s Xolani Khumalo.
Image: X
“It was astonishing to see the press statement going out announcing ActionSA mayoral candidate Xolani Khumalo into the position as an MMC in this cabinet despite the party indicating that this is not something we were available for. It is a very strange situation and already points to a government or a mayor that is chaotic.
“It is unprecedented for a mayoral committee to be announced in a major city with political parties who aren’t even part of that government. It is a strange dynamic.”
Beaumont made it clear that ActionSA would not serve under Xhakaza under any circumstances ahead of the upcoming local government elections.
The latest development signals further instability in Ekurhuleni’s coalition politics, as tensions mount over the composition of the mayoral committee and the future direction of governance in the metro.
More details are expected as the City of Ekurhuleni responds to ActionSA’s rejection of the appointment.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
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