‘Self-inflicted wound’ – ANC councillors vote for DA mayor in Lephalale

The ANC received a stark and painful message last week – that its people are unhappy – when its councillors in the Limpopo town of Lephalale voted a Democratic Alliance (DA) mayor into office.

Lephalale DA councillor Nico Pienaar will be sworn in as the town’s mayor next week, courtesy of the majority-held ANC council.

And it was not a coalition vote that secured Pienaar the mayoral chain: there are not enough opposition councillors to effect that.

Pienaar beat ANC mayoral candidate Aaron Mokgehle by two votes, with nine going to the DA and seven to the ANC.

A baffled ANC held a meeting last week to scrutinise what had happened. It then instructed the Lephalale speaker and chief whip to explain why power had been handed to the ANC’s opposition nemesis on a silver platter.

It was a self-inflicted wound on many levels.

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During the mayoral election in council chambers, ANC-appointed speaker Grace Morakalala ejected 10 of the 17 ANC councillors for disruptive behaviour. The number of seats on the Lephalale town council is 29.

Pienaar said: “The ANC had seven members remain in chambers and when you add up votes from other opposition parties and the [Economic Freedom Fighters’] three councillors that abstained from casting a ballot, it seems almost half of the ANC that voted, voted for me as mayor.”

ANC Limpopo provincial chair Jimmy Machaka said the events leading to Pienaar’s mayorship were sad and uncalled for.

“The people of Lephalale gave the ANC a clear majority mandate to lead the municipality. Allowing a DA candidate to lead the municipality is a clear disrespect to the people of Lephalale. It is also an insult to the people who voted us into power to lead the municipality during the municipal polls [last] November.”

“We are going to work tirelessly as a team to reverse the situation. And when we do, the municipality will be under the ANC control permanently,” Machaka added.

‘Wrong’ ANC candidate fielded

He blamed the Lephalale ANC caucus for fielding Mokgehle whom, he suggested, was the wrong candidate.

Lephalale political head for the DA Beyers Smit said what happened in Lephalale could be seen as a foreshadowing of what’s to come for the ANC.

“We are seeing dissent and distinct factionalism between the [radical economic transformation] loyalists on the one side and [President Cyril] Ramaphosa’s reformers at its opposite.

“It is clear that the divide is deepening and we have already started fielding calls from councillors who want to cross the floor to the DA.”

Smit suggested what transpired in the Lephalale council, where ANC turned on ANC, is starting to become the rule, as opposed to the exception.

Presently, the DA leads two other minority local governments in Limpopo, Modimolle-Mookgophong and Thabazimbi.

Meanwhile, Pienaar is realistic about the headwinds he may face while on the hot seat and the ANC’s provincial structures have already warned against celebrating the win.

But he is determined to get a turnaround plan in place quickly and start fixing problem areas, like potholes and other service delivery issues.

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He also plans to launch a call centre which will operate day and night to gather reports from citizens about service delivery challenges.

He said he is drawing a line in the sand and, with the time he is afforded as mayor, he plans to make as big an impact as possible.

He plans to sell the mayoral vehicle and drive himself to save money. He has also cut all catering from any meetings and events.

He said: “I come from the private sector and efficiency is what I am used to.”

He will be cracking the whip and get officials focused on service delivery.

The DA’s national spokesperson, Richard Newton, said: The DA has full confidence in the mayor to put the needs of the residents first and to address the challenges facing the community.

“He has hit the ground running and is working on several projects to start turning the municipality around.”

– news@citizen.co.za