Abantu Batho Congress (ABC) leader Philani Mavundla has resigned from the eThekwini metro council.

On Tuesday, ABC secretary-general Phumelele Phahla said Mavundla submitted his resignation letter to eThekwini Speaker Thabani Nyawose on Thursday.

"The ABC wishes to thank the people of eThekwini for the vote of confidence which saw the party secure two seats in the eThekwini council in the 2021 local government elections," she said.

She also explained why Mavundla formed a coalition government with the African National Congress (ANC) and a bloc of smaller parties – which propelled Mavundla to the position of deputy mayor and human settlements and infrastructure committee chairperson in November 2021.

"Our sole intention for the coalition agreement with the ANC was to continue our pursuit of championing the interests of the condemned people of eThekwini."

She said Mavundla also wanted to fight rampant corruption "which hinders service delivery and delays the socioeconomic emancipation of our people".

The removal of Mavundla from the executive committee undermined the fight against corruption and bad service delivery, Phahla said.

Apology for aligning with the ANC

Phahla said the ABC also apologised to the people of eThekwini "for supporting an ANC-led government when the people had chosen to remove the ANC from power in the 2021 local government elections".

At the time, the ABC believed the ANC would be persuaded to accelerate service delivery and hold officials and office bearers accountable, she added.

"Sadly, this was not to be. As the people of eThekwini have witnessed, our president, councillor PG Mavundla was removed for pursuing this very cause."

Phahla also thanked councillors who supported the ABC-led bloc of smaller parties.

"Particularly those who supported councillor Mavundla during his tenure. We thank even those councillors who later on allowed themselves to be persuaded otherwise and at the last hour... voted for the removal of councillor Mavundla. It is true that our views will defer from time to time, and we wish those councillors well."

Mavundla has since joined ActionSA in its legal action to compel the eThekwini metro and government departments to attend to the ongoing sewage crisis in the city.

He is an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, and says he will be using his knowledge as the former chairperson of the human settlements and infrastructure committee and deputy mayor to guide the courts on the matter.

On Monday, outside the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban, where the matter was first heard and postponed for one month, Mavundla said much of his evidence was made up of letters between himself when he was chairperson of the committee and council leaders.

He claimed to have met with President Cyril Ramaphosa on the crisis and said he wrote a 58-page report on the infrastructure crisis.