The speaker of Emalahleni Municipality in Mpumalanga Mduduzi Mswati Nkosi resigned suddenly from his position on 29 April 2025

There were growing calls over the recent months for the Speaker to resign or be removed. These included marches by the community as well as a formal complaint by the Democratic alliance.

The DA has also asked for a special council sitting where a motion of no confidence could be made and discussed against the Speaker

There are allegations that the Speaker has been involved in (according to a statement by the DA dated 15 April 2025);

• Disrupting rightfully constituted community meetings;
• Interfering with community projects and money laundering;
• Failure to address public grievances in the form of a memorandum that was submitted to him.
• To date, Nkosi has failed to act without bias when presiding over council sittings as he failed to allow adequate deliberation on matters that affect the residents. In this regard, he conducted proceedings in such a way that excluded the DA’s objections to the 2025/26 budget which was unfunded by R1 billion.
• He also failed to uphold the legislative duties that are ascribed to him by the Municipal Finance Management Act when he allowed the council to adopt this unfunded budget.

“The DA in eMalahleni welcomes the resignation of the Speaker of Council, Mduduzi Nkosi. This is a significant victory for the Council and the municipality in general,” said Maureen Scheepers, DA Councillor Emalahleni Local Municipality, “The speaker’s resignation comes in the wake of a Motion of No Confidence that was submitted by the DA on the 15th of April 2025. Our motion outlined serious allegations of misconduct, abuse of power, and the Speaker’s ongoing failure to execute his duties impartially and act in the best interest of the municipality and its residents.”

The Speaker’s resignation is a desperate move to cling to power and avoid a humiliating defeat that was on the horizon.

“Therefore, on the basis of accountability, transparency, and proper governance, the DA is content with this resignation,” continued Scheepers, “In this regard, our end goal has always been to remove an incompetent Speaker who has persistently undermined council processes, ignored legitimate complaints, and presided over sittings with a culture of impunity.”

However, despite the above, the DA is dismayed at the prospect of having an ANC councillor from Nkangala District Municipality being redeployed to eMalahleni.  It is understood that the ANC leadership in the province is allegedly in the process of swapping Nkosi with a councillor from the district municipality.

The people of eMalahleni deserve leadership that is ethical, fair, and committed to service delivery. The DA remains resolute in our mission to hold this ANC-led municipality accountable and to restore integrity to council proceedings.

“We will continue to push for clean governance and will monitor the process of appointing a new Speaker closely. The DA remains the true champion of accountability in eMalahleni,” concluded Scheepers.