Alleged ANC infighting in Tzaneen municipality hampering service delivery

Infighting within the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in the Greater Tzaneen Municipality is hampering the delivery of services.

This is according to the opposition and disgruntled ANC councillors who accuse some of the ruling party’s senior leaders in the municipality of serving personal interests at the expense of service delivery.

They say council meetings are abruptly ended before major decisions are taken while disgruntled ANC members say their caucus meetings which forego council sittings sometimes degenerate into screaming matches between rival groups within the organisation.

Ruling party councillors confirmed the existence of two groups in the council with one supporting the speaker, Dikeledi Mmetle while the other supporting the mayor, Maripe Mangena.

The opposition councillors said that the rivalry between the two groups became visible during the virtual special council meeting on 31 August.

File phot: Speaker of Council Dikeledi Mmetle and Greater Tzaneen Mayor Maripe Mangena. Picture: Letaba Herald

The discussions reached a boiling point when the issue of the possibility of fraud and corruption relating to a specific tender was raised.

Some of the councillors who were in attendance said the speaker and chief whip proposed that the court case be withdrawn and the remaining money be used to finish the project.

The mayor as well as the municipal manager strongly objected due to the fact that a police case was opened for investigation and the court might possibly expose any fraud and corruption that took place.

Some ANC councillors refused to be silenced by the speaker and accusations were shouted against each other.

The speaker lost control of the meeting and all council members were muted and the speaker left.

A special council meeting was scheduled for 8 September and was postponed twice, and on Sunday 13 September, opposition parties were informed that the ANC did not finish their caucus and therefore the meeting was postponed until further notice.

“It is clear that the ANC has no respect for the electorate, opposition party members, officials or themselves,” said a member of the opposition who spoke on condition of anonymity because she is not authorised to speak to the media.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) member of parliament for Tzaneen, Desireé van der Walt, who is ta former member of the council, said that in the Greater Tzaneen there has been a clear division amongst the ANC … if not a Zuma vs Ramaphosa supporters it is a mayor vs speaker division.

The control for money and positions are the order of the day with no respect for approved projects and its deadlines.

Service delivery to the poor communities and maintenance in the established areas is not the priority, own jobs and positions are,” said van der Walt.

She added that the duties and legal instruction to councillors are to ensure that residents receive basic services and that elected leaders must at all times be transparent and consult on communities on service delivery matters.

Herald was referred to the municipal spokesperson when asked for comment.

Neville Ndlala, spokesperson, dismissed reports that there is infighting within council as untrue.

“Engaging in robust discussions and disagreeing on some issues is not infighting but part of democratic processes unfolding in the council,” said Ndlala.

This article was republished from Letaba Herald with permission 

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