Two ‘mayors’ fight over NW municipality as services collapse, businesses close

Poor service delivery is among the chief reasons why local businesses in the Ditsobotla local municipality in North West have either closed or are considering closing.

In the midst of it all, the council apparently has two mayors and two speakers fighting for control of the kitty.

Cheese and milk factory Clover SA was among the first big businesses to close their doors in Lichtenburg, citing the dysfunctionality of the local municipality.

ALSO READ: North West Premier intervenes in Clover factory closure in bid to save hundreds of jobs

This move has already left some locals jobless, but the Clover closure is but one of the municipality’s many headaches.

Two centres of power

There have been numerous reports of instability in the administration of the municipality.

Internal factional battles in the governing African National Congress (ANC) have also been blamed on the dire situation at the municipality, with reports suggesting that the municipality currently has two mayors and two speakers, who belong to different factions of the ANC.

Speaking to The Citizen, political analyst Prof Andre Duvenhage said according to the information he has received, there are two members of the ANC both claiming senior positions within the municipality.

“In fact, you have two institutionalised local decision-makers in conflict with each other, fighting over resources and as a result making the municipality completely dysfunctional.

“It (the municipality) cannot provide basic services like water, sometimes electricity and the situation is so bad that people are basically not worrying about the law, or doing their own thing,” said Duvenhage.

New ANC leadership cracks whip

According to media reports, the newly elected provincial leadership of the ANC led by Nono Maloyi has given officials at the embattled municipality a week to resolve the impasse.

Duvenhage says this is a good move by Maloyi.

“They need to take out one mayor, one municipal manager or let’s call it the alternative government that they need to remove… I don’t know which one is which one… Maybe they must decide on a new process of electing the new leadership at the municipality,” Duvenhage said.

Factional battles over services for at least a year

Ernst Kleinhans from the Freedom Front Plus said the situation in Ditsobotla proves just how the ANC’s factional battles take precedence over local residents.

Kleinhans said there has been two parallel councils since 2021.

“I have written to the both the MECs for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and Finance but we are yet to receive responses.

“The said thing about this whole situation is that this municipality has been under administration for a long time and that has not yielded any positive results, in fact service delivery continues to suffer a great deal,” he said.

Kleinhans said there have been several attempts by the provincial government to call meetings in an attempt to find a solution to the power impasse at the municipality with no luck.

“It appears to me that no one in the ANC is prepared to call one another out, they are more careful on how they deal with each other.

“While it is important for the ANC to urgently intervene, there is no hope of that happening because the ANC has reached a point of no return… Maybe the ANC needs to fall in order for it to become humble,” Kleinhans said.

Attempts to get comment from the newly-elected ANC provincial leadership have thus far proven futile.

“ANC members are greedy and corrupt”

Kagiso Monyadiwa, regional spokesperson for the Ngaka Modiri Molema District municipality, which Ditsobotla falls under, said the failures of the governing party, including greed and corruption, are among the issues which have created a barrier between residents and their deserved service delivery.

“ANC members are greedy and corrupt, they are not selfless as they claim and in fact, they are hyenas whose interests are to enrich themselves rather than being of service to communities.

“There is no delivery of services to the people of Ditsobotla Local Municipality and it is for this reason that we are calling on the Cogta MEC to afford residents with another opportunity to make up their minds by way of going to the polls again,” Monyadiwa said.

Issues of political instability are not new. In 2019, irate and disgruntled residents held the mayor hostage.

ALSO READ: Update: Community holds mayor hostage in Ditsobotla municipal building

Timeline of municipality’s woes

• In December 2021, the council appointed an acting municipal manager.

• Early this year, mayor Mecy Mokgothu relieved the acting municipal manager of his acting role and replaced him with Israel Motlhabane.

• This move was immediately followed by protest action which prompted the Cogta MEC to institute investigations over the mayor’s decision.

• An Ad Hoc committee was then put together and ordered following an investigation that Mokgothu be suspended for a period of three months.

North West municipalities among SA’s worst

According to the recently released Auditor General’s report into the state of municipalities in the country, the situation in the North West province reflects a worrying and worsening culture of unaccountability.

None of the 22 municipalities in the province received a clean audit, according to the latest outcomes by the Auditor General.

ALSO READ: Municipalities hold their breaths as Auditor-General to release annual audit outcomes