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Four municipalities in Mpumalanga have been operating without mayors for a period ranging from a week to two weeks.
The municipalities are Emalahleni, Bushbuckridge, Chief Albert Luthuli and Dipaleseng.
Political experts say the situation needs urgent attention as it may compromise service delivery and open the door for corruption and looting.
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Themba Godi, a senior politician and former chair of parliament’s standing committee on public accounts, said the municipalities had been suffering from poor leadership for a very long time.
“The absence of the executive mayors in these municipalities is catastrophic. It opens the gates for the looting of public funds without political oversight. These delays are probably a result of the vicious infighting for power in the faction-riddled Mpumalanga ANC,” said Godi.
“As always, it is the communities that suffer. The ANC does not have a good track record for accountability or putting the interests of communities anywhere on its agenda. It will not be surprising if there are service delivery protests by angry communities.”
Bushbuckridge was left without a leader when its longest-serving mayor, Sylvia Nxumalo, was appointed as a member of the national council of provinces about two weeks ago.
Emalahleni’s former mayor, Leah Mabuza, joined the Mpumalanga provincial legislature about a week ago.
Chief Albert Luthuli and Dipaleseng were also affected by the swearing-in of provincial legislature members that took place last week.
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Political analyst Goodenough Mashego said leaving such positions vacant would affect service delivery.
“The municipalities have been without mayors for a long time and that is creating tensions among ANC members because there are people who want those positions. So when they are vacant, they create tensions within the party.
“If a vacancy exists, some other forces will come and occupy it.”
He warned that the vacant posts may cause a huge unexpected fight that might end up affecting the ANC in the next local government elections.
Mpumalanga ANC spokesperson Sasekani Manzini said the party was in the process of recruiting new mayors.
Manzini said the vacancies would be filled as soon as preparations had been concluded.
“I don’t think there is a delay in installing the mayors because the national elections were held not too long ago,” said Manzini.
When speaking about the issue last week, ANC provincial secretar Muzi Chirwa told the media that some of the affected regions had already made recommendations and forwarded names of those who should be considered for mayoral positions.
He said the preferred candidates would undergo interview processes and after that, the municipalities would appoint the respective mayors.
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