The battle to be Polokwane mayor may come down to gender

The party will have to carefully choose between the application of gender parity within party ranks and clean audit outcomes when choosing up the new mayor for the Polokwane municipality.

Polokwane is the economic hub of Limpopo and the provincial capital.

The Citizen is aware that the ANC in Limpopo last Wednesday sent three names to the NEC for the appointment of a new mayor for the municipality.

The NEC is expected to choose between the three names by using a new vetting system, which would then indicate who is appropriate enough to take up the party’s plum job in the province.

Current mayor Thembi Nkadimeng was appointed deputy minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this month.

During her appointment, Nkadimeng was praised for having united the ANC in the council and for providing optimum services to the city and its surrounding townships and villages for more than five years.

The only problem that nearly dented her image was the dismal performance of audits and the use of consultants, which caused ructions between her and opposition parties.

The Citizen understands the three names sent to NEC are two women, Mamedupi Teffo and Puleng Mashongoane, and one man, John Mpe.

Mpe is currently the ANC Peter Mokaba regional chair and Capricorn district municipality’s mayor.

One woman is currently the Polokwane ANC chief whip and the other is chair of an ANC branch in the region. They have all been credited with good leadership skills, both administratively and politically.

Mpe has been scoring clean audit outcomes from the Auditor-General, making him one of the best mayors Limpopo has produced since democracy. But his critics in the region say he must take a back seat and grant women, during Women’s Month, the leadership position.

The traditional leadership in the Capricorn district could not say who their preference was between a male or a female leader.

“We wish to indicate that it is our desire to have a mayor for both Polokwane and Capricorn, who will closely work with our traditional leadership in the process of delivery of basic services to our people,” said Chief Malesela Dikgale yesterday.

The ANC Youth League in the same region has recommended Mpe as its preferred candidate because not only did his leadership in the district as both ANC chair and in Capricorn district municipality “prove he is the right man for the job”, but to all accounts he had also proved he knew local governance.

His style of leadership was seen as a breath of fresh air.

“We are also confident that the leadership of the ANC both in the province and at national level will do the right thing and appoint Mpe as new Polokwane executive mayor,” said the league’s Jimmy Mmachaka last week. – news@citizen.co.za