INLSA
File Photo: Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi
Minority Front leader Shameen Thaku-Rajbansi on Tuesday denied accusations by some of her councillors that she had failed to follow democratic procedures in the party, declaring it was clear that she was dealing with a “confused lot” of new councillors.
Councillors stormed out of the party’s executive committee meeting in Chatsworth on Monday, and yesterday eThekwini councillors met to plot the way forward but expressed fear they would be “victimised” for speaking out against her.
Councillor Ismail Cassimjee, the chairman of the Minority Front’s eThekwini caucus, said Tuesday’s meeting at the Durban City Hall was “not an attack on the leadership”.
He said they just wanted Thakur-Rajbansi to listen to recommendations made by councillors and follow democratic processes.
Two of the main issues of contention are the position of Patrick Pillay as the exco councillor in the municipality and the appointment of the Minority Front’s proportional representation councillors.
Cassimjee said when Thakur-Rajbansi was told that councillors were unhappy with Pillay’s performance and attitude and wanted a say in who made it to the PR list, she contacted those who had voiced their concerns and instructed them to withdraw their motions.
He said when she refused to listen to them at Monday’s meeting, 10 of the 15 councillors present walked out. She then asked that a delegation be sent in to discuss the matter, but it remained unresolved.
At Tuesday’s meeting the councillors decided the best approach was to put their concerns in writing.
Thakur-Rajbansi said there was a lot of confusion among some of the councillors. “Confusion only comes, in my considered opinion, when a small group of persons speak from the depths of ignorance on political procedures…”
She said there was a handful of councillors who had never questioned the leadership style of former leader Amichand Rajbansi, yet now that she did things exactly as he had, she was targeted. She said in July the new councillors would be sent for training with the Independent Electoral Commission and she was organising further workshops to educate them.
“I don’t want to believe that some of them are untrainable… I will get professionals to train them.”
Thakur-Rajbansi said there was no favouritism in the party.
She said she didn’t have any brothers or sisters who held positions in the party, unlike the Minority Front’s MP in Cape Town, Roy Bhoola, whose wife was an MF councillor and whose sister worked as a personal assistant in the party’s Chatsworth office.
The Cape Town High Court recently ruled that Bhoola, the only national parliamentarian, would remain in his position pending the finalisation of a court application he brought against Thakur-Rajbansi, who wanted to permanently expel him.
Bhoola, who was apparently close to the late Rajbansi, was fired by Thakur-Rajbansi in April this year for “gross insubordination”.
Cassimjee on Tuesday said MF councillors were unhappy with the way in which she had handled the Bhoola issue but that they had not been given a chance to express their views. – The Mercury
