The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) led Uphongolo local municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal is scrambling to get R610 000 to settle a lawyer’s bill where it was a respondent.

The bizarre bill came from Nompumelelo Hadebe Inc, a Durban-based law firm that represented the municipality when, a few months ago, the mayor, Bongani Thwala and seven other councillors were trying to set aside the reinstatement of Bethuel Khali as the Municipal Manager.

Khali was reinstated after the council voted in favour of his return after it was found that his suspension was unlawful.

Undeterred by failing to win votes at the council sitting where Khali was reinstated, Thwala and the councillors roped in the law firm to challenge the matter in court on an urgent basis. The matter was heard as such, but the judgment was reserved until this moment.

What has raised eyebrows in the municipality circles was that the municipality was cited as a respondent in the matter, and it should not have been billed. Instead, the bill should have been sent to Thwala and the councillors who took the matter.

“The municipality should have been billed only if Thwala acted on its behalf, but in this case he acted on his own. So, the bill should have been sent to him and the councillors. Remember that the council voted to bring back Khali and that is binding,” a source told the African Times

The African Times saw the invoice and the law firm wants the payment to be made to a Standard Bank account at Kingsmead in Durban. The itemised billing shows that the law firm instructed a controversial Durban Advocate who was once arrested in a high-profile corruption case involving ANC politicians.

Despite being given a week to comment, the municipality did not take up the opportunity to do so.