Ditsobotla: Coalition partners fighting after ANC loses majority

Political instability is set to continue at Ditsobotla Local Municipality in the North West where the previously governing ANC lost its majority.

Now the newly formed coalition government has hit a snag with infighting among coalition partners threatening to the municipality’s stability.

New motions

Already new motions of no confidence are hanging over the heads of the Speaker, Fikile Jakeni for violating council rules and orders and the newly elected mayor, Elizabeth Lethoko, of the Patriotic Alliance (PA).

A motion against Lethoko, who resigned during a special sitting on 9 January in Lichtenburg and then withdraw her resignation later, was yet to be submitted.

Lethoko resigned as mayor hours after being elected as the PA accused the ANC of corruption when it allegedly sneaked in the secondment of an acting municipal manager (MM), by the provincial department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs.

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The PA and other opposition parties said the matter was not on the adopted council agenda and they were not consulted by the speaker about it prior to Jakeni introducing it.

The motion mover, Benny Mosiane, from Save Ditsobotla Movement said Jakeni of the ANC, decided to sneak in the matter at the end of the council session to please, MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs, Nono Maloyi, who seconded the acting MM.

Mosiane said Jakeni contravened council standing orders and rules and further connived with Maloyi, to violate not only council standing rules and orders but also section 37 (f) of the Municipal Structures Act.

“We accept that we have had no municipal manager since 31 December 2022, but the speaker was wrong to introduce the matter in the council this way, it should go to the executive first and them to council. The speaker was trying to force this issue on us as the council,” Mosiane said.

“If Jakeni is the proxy of the MEC, he must go. We don’t want proxies here,” he said.

Mosiane also as council they did not recognise Lethoko’s withdrawal of her resignation because it did not come through council but via the speaker. The PA’s Kenny Kunene confirmed the PA and ANC smoked a peace pipe and reached common ground on the municipal manager’s issue and that’s way Plethico withdrew her resignation.

Resignation not processed

Kunene said the Speaker had not yet processes the mayor’s resignation that’s why the mayor returned to her post.

But Mosiane maintained this was against the rules as the mayor had no authority to handle the mayoral appointments, resignations and reinstatements. “The speaker does not appoint a mayor, If the mayor resigns, he should give his resignation letter to council because it’s not the speaker who should decide about the mayor.

“As the council we are spectators, the PA is back, they withdrew the mayor’s resignation after they negotiated with the ANC, but we don’t know that as the council. What we know is that the statement by the PA that the ANC is corrupt still stands because it has not been withdrawn,” Mosiane said.

The ANC regretted its decision to disband the Ditsobotla municipality in September 2022 after uncontrollable infighting between ANC faction in the council. The ANC faction ran parallel municipal structures with each side having its own mayor, speaker, chief whip and municipal manager and the tension stand-off left the provincial administration no option but to dissolved the council.

Before that the party had a clear majority in the council with 21 of the 39 seats in the council. Following the dissolution of the council by the ANC administration, the party’s seats in the council dropped to obtained 16 which forced the ANC to form coalition with other parties.

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