374 Maphetle Maphetle( middle) the new mayor of Tlokwe Manucipality in Potchefstroom . He was voted back into office after a motion of no confidence was passed on the DA mayor and sghe was ultimately voted out. 260213 Picture: Boxer Ngwenya 374 Maphetle Maphetle( middle) the new mayor of Tlokwe Manucipality in Potchefstroom . He was voted back into office after a motion of no confidence was passed on the DA mayor and sghe was ultimately voted out. 260213 Picture: Boxer Ngwenya
Johannesburg - The axe has fallen on a group of “ill-disciplined” ANC councillors who defied the party and teamed up with the DA in voting out their own mayor and replacing him with one from the opposition.
The 14 ANC councillors will now watch the continuing political leadership tussle over Tlokwe from the sidelines after they were expelled by the ruling party on Wednesday following their failure to attend their disciplinary hearing.
This does not, however, mean the end of woes for the ANC as it now has to face another mounting task of regaining power from the DA in Tlokwe. The legitimacy of a council meeting where ANC mayor Maphetle Maphetle was replaced with the DA’s Annette Combrinck was expected to be the focus of a looming legal battle as the political struggle intensifies over the leadership of Tlokwe.
The ANC and DA were fighting to be legally recognised parties at the helm of the highly contested municipality. The ANC was also understood to be seeking legal recourse to prove the legitimacy or illegitimacy of Tuesday’s meeting in which Maphetle was removed.
The ANC said the meeting was irregular and not properly constituted, while the DA argues that it has followed all the rules.
The DA was yet to occupy the mayoral office amid tensions in the region. The nearest Combrinck could go to the mayoral office on Wednesday was the reception area of the council offices.
She was seen walking in but did not proceed beyond the security checkpoint and later left the building after a short discussion with some people.
The Star understands that Maphetle’s supporters were waiting upstairs to prevent Combrinck from entering the offices. Maphetle and council Speaker Barei Segotso were seen leaving their offices in the morning, while elsewhere around the municipal complex it was business as usual.
Just like the new DA council, the 14 ANC councillors who have embarrassed their party once again and helped the DA to gain control of Tlokwe were nowhere to be seen at the municipal buildings.
This was while the ANC provincial leadership was meeting in Mahikeng to discuss their future.
The councillors were supposed to have attended the disciplinary hearing at the ANC provincial offices when they attended a council meeting instead. It was at that meeting that they repeated the same act they were supposed to be disciplined on, voting against their own party official and replacing him with one from the opposition.
Meanwhile, Combrinck said she did not go up to the mayoral office because she was aware of the tension and was avoiding “confrontation and stand-off”.
“We don’t (however) need to get to offices to be able to do our work. We consider ourselves legally appointed to lead Tlokwe,” she said.
DA leader in the province Chris Hattingh said his party was consulting lawyers on the “possibility of an interdict to end the illegal occupation (by ANC councillors and mayor) and bring immediate stability to the municipality”.
Political analyst Professor Andre Duvenhage said developments in Tlokwe were “bad for the ANC in the build-up to the elections”.
poloko.tau@inl.co.za
The Star
