The real losers are the people of Tshwane

You can’t make this up. The new Tshwane mayor, Murunwa Makwarela, has left his position after just seven days. The reason? He was declared insolvent in 2016 and can’t prove otherwise.

According to the constitution, a person who’s been declared an unrehabilitated insolvent cannot hold public office and so cannot be a member of council.

ALSO READ: Tshwane’s newly-elected mayor Murunwa Makwarela disqualified for being insolvent

Makwarela insists he will fight the matter in court, telling TimesLive: “I’m one of the top earners in the municipality. I earned a good salary as speaker. This is just the city manager meddling. The real issue is that I am elected as mayor by council – they are bitter.”

The Tshwane mayoral position has not been a kind one to its occupants. None of the city’s mayors have finished their five-year terms since 2016.

ALSO READ: Tshwane mayor has no plans for office ‘shake-up’

Solly Msimanga resigned after three years around the GladAfrica scandal; Stevens Mokgalapa resigned following a short stint in charge after allegedly being embroiled in a sex scandal with a Tshwane MMC; and last month, Randall Williams resigned following auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke’s adverse report regarding the financial affairs of the city, which included irregular, fruitless or wasteful expenditure.

Williams insists he did so in the best interests of the coalition government. While all these sideshows play out, the real losers are the people of Tshwane as they suffer while politics takes preference over putting its people first.

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