The raging political turmoil in the Dannahauser Local Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal took another turn on Wednesday when Speaker Sibusiso Myaka was ousted through a vote of no confidence.

This was after his failed court bid to stop the sitting that had to be convened by a representative of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Madoda Khathide.

Myaka is a member of the Community Freedom Party (CFP), which was in an alliance with the ANC and the EFF. He has been replaced by Councillor S Ndlela from the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), which lost power almost two years ago when the EFF switched sides.

The vote of no confidence has now paved the way for the removal of Mayor Bongani Hadebe from the ANC. The motion against him could be tabled on Friday when the new speaker presides over her first sitting, sources said.

Myaka and Hadebe have been staring at the axe ever since they rammed through the suspension of municipal manager, Mandla Sithole. Other councillors wanted the matter to be put through a ballot, but the two refused and unilaterally suspended him.

Sithole then took the case to the Durban Labour court and won a reinstatement with costs against Hadebe.  

Hadebe has since filed an appeal against the Sithole ruling after dropping the first one. In his papers, he argues that the court had no jurisdiction over the matter. 

He also argues that the cost order against him was unfair, and should he be allowed to appeal, another court may reach a different conclusion. 

Sithole’s lawyers argued that the appeal has no prospect of success, and that Hadebe and his legal team are abusing court processes in order to frustrate their client. 

They asked the court to uphold the cost order as a future deterrence against those who may want to apply similar tactics.