Six ANC mayors facing the chop

Six ANC mayors in Limpopo are facing the chop following investigations on outstanding disputes related to the selection of mayoral candidates by the party’s national dispute resolution committee.

Those allegedly facing the chop are Stan Ramaila of Sekhukhune district municipality, Dowelani Nenguda of Vhembe, Samuel Munyai of Makhado, Alpheus Thulare of Lephalale, Dipuo Thobejane of Maruleng and Rebecca Lentsoane of Ephraim Mogale.

Four of them could be replaced by:

• Former Elias Motsoaledi local municipality mayor Julia Mathebe is expected to replace Ramaila;
• Given Moimana is expected to replace Lentsoane;
• Tsheko Musolwa is expected to replace Thobejane; and
• Aaron Mokgehle will replace Thulare.

The mayors to replace Nenguda and Munyai are still to be decided, pending the outcome of a rerun process, as per the recommendations of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC).

The two councils are still subject to investigations by the dispute and resolution committee, The Citizen has learnt.

ALSO READ: RET faction loses its foothold in ANC

On Tuesday, the ANC in Limpopo said it had received the NEC report on outstanding disputes related to the selection of some mayoral candidates in the province. The report was, according to the provincial executive committee (PEC), in line with the commitment to finalise the deployment of mayors where disputes arose.

The meeting, according to the party, further agreed in principle that as the term of the current PEC of the ANC in Limpopo came to an end in June, the party’s 10th provincial elective conference should be held from 3 to 5 June.

The decision to deploy the new mayors was met with sharp criticism from opposition parties and ordinary citizens, who said this proved beyond any shadow of doubt that the ANC was romancing crime by promoting those who wrongly invested millions of rands into the controversial VBS Mutual Bank.

Seun Mogotji, general secretary of the Bolsheviks Party, said on Wednesday: “All the new mayors … have been mayors deployed in ANC-led municipalities before. Most, if not all, have, in one way or another, participated in the irregular investment of municipal millions into the collapsed VBS Mutual Bank.

“Because the ANC reward crime, it is now bringing them through the back door.”

Mogotji said it was now clear the ANC was heading for even more loss of votes in the 2024 provincial and national elections “because more and more people are going to leave the party because of the embedded corruption”.