The political stalemate over the mayorship of North West’s Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality, which includes Mafikeng, continued on Thursday, almost two months after the African National Congress (ANC) suspended its mayor for defying the party’s orders. The North West High Court in Mmabatho ruled that there was no "urgent" basis to hear the case of mayor Phaladi Saku, who was seeking to be reinstated as an ANC councillor after it emerged that the Independent Electoral Commission had accepted her withdrawal from the party’s list. Ms Saku said the matter was struck off the urgent court roll but would be heard on September 19. The turbulence in municipal councils in North West has triggered several by-elections — with at least nine still to come in September in Tlokwe — in which the ANC has retained most wards with a generally declined majority. Ms Saku’s suspension in June, as well as that of the mayor of Zeerust in Ramotshere Moiloa municipality, Afrika Thale, added to the list of at least 23 ANC councillors shown the door since the start of 2013. Three provincial MECs have also been sacked, while the party’s provincial deputy chairman and secretary have been suspended. In July, councillors belonging to two ANC factions in Ngaka Modiri Molema held separate council meetings where each group elected its own mayor, speaker and municipal manager. Daddy Sebolecoe, ANC spokesman in Ngaka Modiri Molema, said on Thursday the party would seek to have its new mayor in office on Friday. Tlokwe prepares for by-elections The incident mirrored another internal ANC rumbling in July in Tlokwe, where defiant councillors for the second time since November removed an ANC mayor aligned to the pro-Zuma group. The dissident councillors were subsequently expelled, but the ANC failed in a court bid to overturn a council decision granting the Democratic Alliance (DA) the power to take over the running of Tlokwe municipality. Preparations for September’s by-elections in Tlokwe are continuing. At least five of the 14 ANC councillors expelled in July will be taking part as independents. A strategist aligned to the independents said the remaining four could still be swayed to also stand. However, three of the four wards still targeted are seen as ANC strongholds. On Wednesday, the new Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by former ANC youth leader Julius Malema, backed out of a plan to formally take part in the by-elections. Sources said the EFF failed to strike a deal that would have seen the independents campaigning under its banner. Of the nine wards to be contested, the DA is seen to have a strong chance in at least two in which the ANC scored just more than 50% in the 2011 municipal elections.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 18:16:00 +0000
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