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He was fired and demoted as Abaqulusi mayor in Vryheid after making crude remarks about women, telling a staff and a community meeting on separate occasions that he was the only bull with testicles that was allowed to mate.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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A controversial former mayor in KwaZulu-Natal, who left unceremoniously, has resurfaced in a senior position as a portfolio committee chairperson in the provincial legislature.

Mncedisi Maphisa is among seven Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) legislature members appointed as committee chairpersons in the IFP, ANC, DA and National Freedom Party (NFP) provincial government of unity that sidelined the majority party, Umkhonto we Sizwe, which holds 37 out of the 80 seats in the legislature.

Maphisa’s new job is chairperson of the transport portfolio committee.

He was fired and demoted as Abaqulusi mayor in Vryheid after making crude remarks about women, telling a staff and a community meeting on separate occasions that he was the only bull with testicles that was allowed to mate.

IFP spokesperson, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, did not respond to written questions about the rationale behind appointing a member embroiled in serious controversies.

In the staff meeting, Maphisa said: “I’m the only bull that has testicles here. I mate with all the cows here. If there is anyone else who wants to be a bull, I will cut his testicles, or he cuts mine.”

A Special Ethics Committee of the Abaqulusi council subsequently made adverse findings against Maphisa after its hearing.

According to the special ethics committee report dated May 15 2023, one female ward committee member testified how she felt her dignity degraded by the then mayor, young enough to be her son, telling her she was a cow he could mate with.

Abaqulusi corporate services director Sibongokuhle Dlamini told the committee that Maphisa’s remarks affected her marriage as her husband heard an audio-recording referring to her by name.

Dlamini provided the committee with a text message wherein her husband asked her why the mayor directed those words to her specifically, which meant she was part of his harem.

Maphisa tried to return to his job through the courts but he was unsuccessful.

He wanted the Pietermaritzburg High Court to set  his demotion aside as Abaqulusi mayor, but his application was dismissed.

Other controversies have involved Maphisa’s wife. Proving that Maphisa was a big shot, these scandal have done nothing to thwart his growth or even affect his spouse, Nonkululeko.

The People’s Eye reported in May how Nonkululeko found another job at the Amajuba District Municipality in Newcastle under controversial circumstances after she had also left Emadlangeni Local Municipality in Utrecht under a cloud.

Nonkululeko was caught out for embellishing her CV after the Emadlangeni council conducted a forensic investigation after independent researcher, Maxwell Nzuza,  had initially picked up the misrepresentation.

She was employed as corporate services director of Emadlangeni on July 14 2022. Nonkululeko’s  CV claimed that she had five years of middle management experience from her previous employment at Ulundi Local Municipality.

She claimed she worked as assistant manager for legal services at Ulundi while, in fact, she was only an intern. The post of assistant manager did not exist at the time Maphisa indicated in her CV.

Nonkululeko resigned following the completion of the report and the Emadlangeni council accepted her resignation  and decided against instituting a civil claim against Maphisa.

Nonkululeko resigned on January 22 2023. She resurfaced as deputy director at the Amajuba District Municipality’s disaster centre in Newcastle in April.

The post at Amajuba was not advertised and it was not budgeted for. The municipality has declined to comment.