Court finds Limpopo mayor’s appointment invalid and unlawful

A Limpopo municipal mayor could soon join millions of South Africans walking the streets after this week’s Limpopo High Court judgment, which ruled that her appointment as a councillor and mayor was invalid and unlawful.

The court on Wednesday ruled that Meriam Molala, mayor for the Lepelle-Nkumpi municipality in Lebowakgomo, was not a legitimate mayor.

Molala was appointed in August last year after the axing of Naledi Sibanda, who was fired along with other seven mayors by Limpopo premier Stan Mathabatha. They were fired for illegally investing municipal funds amounting to R1.2 billion into the collapsed VBS Mutual Bank. Molala’s municipality had invested R151 million. Soon after her appointment, a member of the Hillary Mahlatji branch of the ANC approached the high court where he filed a notice of the motion against her appointment.

Lehlaga Mphahlele, 59, who is also a lecturer at the University of Limpopo, claimed he was the rightful ANC member to be appointed and not Molala.

“Molala was not on the list of the party which contained candidates elected by branches and endorsed by the region, the province and the national leadership of the ANC,” said Mphahlele.

“During the 2016 local government elections, I was number 11 on the list that consisted of names of candidates, earmarked for a seat in the council, incase the party [ANC] wins more seats during elections. After the elections, the ANC won 10 seats, making me number one on the list. But instead of appointing me, the ANC in the region and province opted to brush aside the policy and appointed Molala.”

He added: “I asked myself, what wrong have I done? I approached the council, the region, the province and the NEC but all of them gave me the runaround and sent me from pillar to post. I became exhausted of their empty promises and I then filed the motion to oppose the appointment.”

Mphahlele added that all was now under the bridge because the truth had finally come out. The matter was heard on 3 August and judgment was reserved until it was passed on Wednesday by Judge MV Semenya.

In her judgment, Semenya ordered that the nomination and appointment of Molala as a representative of the council in Lepelle-Nkumpi and her subsequent appointment as a mayor must be declared invalid and unlawful. She also ordered that Mphahlele should be recognised as the next candidate on the election list and a councillor designate. But the ANC in the Peter Mokaba region, which deployed Molala, did not agree with the verdict.

“We are definitely going to appeal the judgment. We have already instructed our lawyers to deal with the matter and we know we have a strong case,” said Peter Mokaba ANC regional chairperson John Mpe yesterday.

“Deployment of cadres to council and government is not guaranteed to anyone. Mphahlele is fresh from the DA where he was a ward councillor and maybe he must leave ANC policies to those who know better.”

ANC provincial spokesperson, Donald Selamolela said yesterday they were still studying the judgment and “we will state our position post the process.”

Molala could not be reached for comment.

– news@citizen.co.za

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