[LISTEN] IFP heading to court to demand Zandile Gumede removal
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) will take legal action to demand the removal of former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede as a member of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature.
Gumede, who is out on bail for her alleged part in a multi-billion rand tender scandal, was recently sworn in as an MPL.
She is the most senior of five African National Congress (ANC) eThekwini councillors who were arrested over the tender. She is out on bail of R50 000 and will appear again on December 10.
All ANC members charged with crimes have been asked to stand aside from their party and government posts pending a hearing with the party’s integrity commission, in line with a decision by the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC).
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But, IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa says Gumede cannot continue to draw a salary while sitting at home.
He says the IFP has written to the ANC to demand Gumede’s removal from office until she has been cleared of all charges.
The governing party has failed to respond.
“There should be nothing like step aside. There should be something like step down. You cannot pay a person who does not go to work, who makes no leave of absence, who does nothing, even at home, related to the parliamentary work. And then you pay that person a huge salary.
"Should the case take too long, that person will earn over a million in a year. We cannot afford that in a country experiencing high unemployment.”
