New mayor for Bojanala municipality

Bojanala ANC in North West demonstrated its power when member Suzan Nthangeni was elected mayor of Bojanala district municipality in a highly contested all-women race.

Nthangeni beat ANC provincial executive committee member and former Bojanala acting mayor Victoria Makhaula, ANC Veterans’ League member Tshidi Mangwathe and South African National Civics Organisation regional executive member Winnie Sono.

Nthangeni replaced former mayor Matlakala Nondzaba who was suspended and then removed from office for her alleged failure to stop graft in the district municipality after the municipality allegedly paid some contractors illegally.

Two horse race

Makhaula, who was deployed as acting mayor during Nondzaba’s suspension and removal, was thought to be the strongest contender for the position.

But she proved to be unpopular as she did not make the cut during the selection process for the three candidates that the ANC regional executive committee (REC) had to submit for interviews in terms of party guidelines.

The ANC provincial leadership felt that being the acting mayor, it was unfair to exclude Makhaula’s name from the list and she was put forward as a fourth candidate.

Nthangeni has 20 years’ experience as a councillor, having served as councillor for ward 3 at Madidi in Madibeng local municipality, where she also served as a member of the mayoral committee for two terms.

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Local ANC members regard Nthangeni’s election as a victory for the regional structure.

“The REC has put their footprint here and is protecting their territory by deploying Nthangeni as mayor,” said an ANC branch member from Madibeng.

“Nthangeni is one of the best cadres of the movement in Bojanala. She has earned her stripes.

“We believe in her capabilities to stabilise the municipality, which has been crippled by corruption,“ he said.

Recovering stolen funds

The party said one of Nthangeni’s immediate tasks as mayor was to recover funds stolen through corruption. This included R134 million that contractors were paid irregularly.

Concern was raised about the Bojanala council leadership being dominated by Madibeng at the expense of other subregions, with Nthangeni as mayor and Ditebogo Moeketsane as ANC chief whip.

There is an ANC principle that all the subregions of Bojanala should be accommodated in the executive committee in terms of the geographic spread policy.

It had been suggested that now that the mayor is from Madibeng, the chief whip should come from another area so that Madibeng did not appear like a “super subregion” with two positions in the top three.

Bojanala is comprised of Madibeng, Rustenburg, Moses Kotane, Kgetlengrivier and Moretele subregions, that also have local municipalities.

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