Mayor of Ditsobotla withdraws resignation

It seems it doesn’t rain but it pours for the cash-strapped Ditsobotla local municipality in Lichtenburg, North West, following its inaugural council meeting which elected a Patriotic Alliance (PA) councillor, Itumeleng Elizabeth Lethoko, as mayor.

Lethoko resigned within three hours of being elected and after several hours, retracted her own resignation.

The ANC lost its outright majority in the North West municipality following by-elections which came after the municipality was dissolved by the provincial and national governments for failing to pay its staff and 39 councillors for months in 2021.

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‘Lethoko is still mayor’

Yesterday, PA deputy president Kenny Kunene said that Lethoko was still the mayor of Ditsobotla and was hitting the ground running:

“Things work based on law and in this regard the law is on our side. The speaker did not process the resignation. The mayor retracted her resignation which means that she is a mayor, hence she is performing her duties at the moment.”

Lethoko and the PA claim that the reason for her resignation was that “a surprising matter was tabled, that of appointing the administrator as the municipal manager”.

Engagement

According to Kunene, he met the ANC at national level and they resolved their differences.

“The ANC at national level engaged us, wherein we came up with our own proposals and road maps. We are in politics because we want to serve our people. Fighting among each other is holding us back,” Kunene said.

Experts weigh in

Political analyst Professor Andrew Duvenhage from North-West University said: “That municipality [Ditsobotla] is basically a crime scene at the moment. It has completely collapsed.

“If it is to be rebuilt, whoever is leading it will have to take tough decisions and we know that the ANC is not good at that.”

Political analyst and managing director at Critical ThinkAR Nompumelelo Runji said that political parties needed to understand what principles brought them together before getting into an alliance. “We can see that coalition politics have not succeeded from big metros in the country. Ditsobotla, without a mayor, will have an effect on the running of the municipality.

“As the public, we only get to hear details of coalition arrangements/agreements whenever there is a communication breakdown or they are fighting among each other. Political parties in the coalition arrangement should have a thing which holds them together, principles or values which they all advance.

“Of utmost importance is also a conflict resolution mechanism so as to know what to do whenever they are in similar situations.”

Forum 4 Service Delivery (F4SD), which is a part of a coalition with the PA, ANC and African Heart Congress, rejected the withdrawal of the resignation by Lethoko as the mayor of Ditsobotla.

“Of most concern to the F4SD is that when the resignation was handed in, the PA did not have the courtesy to consult F4SD as part of a minority block,” a F4SD media statement read.

F4SD president Mbahare Kekana said they would not support Lethoko to be a mayor again,

“As she has resigned, the matter should now be tabled by the speaker for the council to engage it. It does not just end like that. The council should deliberate and decide on it. As F4SD we will vote against the motion to have her as mayor again.”

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EFF and DA stance

While the Economic Freedom Fighters said it is waiting for communication from its national office, the Democratic Alliance said it is seeking legal advice on the withdrawal of the resignation letter of the mayor.

The ANC’s Fikile Alfred Jakeni, who was elected the council speaker, is also going to face a motion of no confidence sponsored by the Save Ditsobotla Movement, led by councillor Benny Letlamoreng Mosiane. He accused Jakeni of failing to adhere to standard procedures for a council meeting.

A motion of no confidence against Jakeni was penned by Mosiane and seconded by Lindiwe Bontes, who are both councillors. “The speaker failed to follow the adopted agenda of the day by including the item of the secondment of the acting municipal manager from the department of cooperative governance, human settlement and traditional affairs,” it read.

Mosiane and Bontes also blame MEC Nono Maloyi, who is also provincial ANC chair, of contravening Section 54.

“The MEC is in contravention of Section 54A of the Municipal Systems Act, read together with the Section 26 and 27 of regulation of the same Act, which clearly stipulate that the municipal council is vested with powers to appoint a municipal manager or acting municipal manager, request secondment from the department or staff from another municipality,” they wrote.

Forum For Democrats president Thabiso Morebantwa called the coalition partners greedy, saying: “Those organisations who agreed to work with the ANC know their intent is to benefit from the corruption and maladministration that will happen.” – news@citizen.co.za

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