Tshwarelo Hunter Mogakane
Pretoria - The EFF has accused the ANC caucus in the Ditsobotla Local Municipality in the North West of using “underhanded tactics” in the appointment of a municipal manager, which resulted in the newly elected mayor resigning within hours.
Patriotic Alliance councillor Elizabeth Lethoko was elected at the Ngaka Modiri District Council Chambers in Mahikeng on Monday afternoon but tendered her resignation to council Speaker Fikile Jakeni before she went to bed.
EFF members had earlier protested against the former administrator Radinaledi Mosiane being present during the council meeting, saying his tenure had lapsed in December.
This followed a period in which the Ditsobotla Local Municipality was placed under administration over financial mismanagement that has plagued the council for years.
The municipal council was dissolved last year, resulting in by-elections, where the ANC lost its majority, making way for EFF and Patriotic Alliance councillors.
The result was the formation of a coalition government between the ANC and the Patriotic Alliance, which failed before it could even start.
The EFF said the coalition failed because Jakeni “attempted” to appoint James Mashigo as a municipal manager without following proper procedures.
“As things stand, the municipality is without a mayor. It is the corrupt and incompetent leadership of the ANC which is at the centre of corruption and maladministration.
“This reveals the true colours of an ANC-led government. The EFF will apply all means necessary to ensure that the speaker is held accountable for this unscrupulous conduct,” said EFF provincial chairperson Shakes Botswe.
The Patriotic Alliance has welcomed Lethoko’s resignation and applauded her for taking a stance against corruption. “It would be unconscionable of her to have continued in this role following the display of blatant corruption in council. She could not be complicit with such behaviour,” the party said.
In her resignation letter to Jakeni, Lethoko, a former ANC mayor of the same municipality, said it was wrong for the council to appoint a former administrator as municipal manager. “At no point did the ANC – your party – raise this matter with me or the Patriotic Alliance’s president, Gayton McKenzie, who was all day in the Ditsobotla council for coalition discussions.
“The EEF was correct in protesting against the tabling of this matter, since any additional items should have been tabled through an addendum. The manner in which this was performed was duplicitous in the extreme,” Lethoko said in her letter.
Lethoko said there was a clear intent to break the law when the council appointed the former administrator.
“(It) was clearly intended to sidestep proper council procedures. The public protector will find against this administration if we go about conducting our appointments in such an irregular fashion.
“My party … will not be associated with underhanded tactics … one can only presume are intended to cover up corruption in Ditsobotla. This coalition government should not protect wrongdoers from going to jail,” she said.
Lethoko, who was mayor of Ditsobotla more than 15 years ago, decried the current state of the municipality.
“The current state of the municipality is a patent disgrace: bucket toilets everywhere, old women who need to carry water on their heads, potholes like lunar craters.
“There were issues during my previous tenure, but the rate of decline that ensued in subsequent years broke my heart. I was looking forward to restoring our municipality as a going concern,” Lethoko said.
Attempts to get comment from the ANC in Ditsobotla failed.
Pretoria News