The executive mayor of Thaba Chweu Municipality, Friddah Nkadimeng, in Mashishing, Mpumalanga, has survived the motion of no confidence tabled by opposition parties in the municipal council.
The African United Movement (AUM) tabled the motion during the council sitting earlier today and was supported by both the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Democratic Alliance (DA).
The parties are accusing Nkandimeng of misleading the council on the contract in the appointment of the municipal manager, Sphiwe Matsi.
The opposition has been defeated by the ANC by 18 votes against 8 votes.
It is believed the mayor received a letter from the MEC of CoGTA stating that the appointment of the manager was irregular and should be amended.
DA Councillor Comfort Sibiya says they are disappointed.
“It is disappointing that we did not get enough votes to be able to remove the mayor. We felt that the mayor was also responsible in appointing the municipal manager irregularly, so as we are currently sitting, we have a municipal manager that does not have a contract with the municipality as per legislation. So it is very disappointing that the ANC decided to vote against the motion and we couldn’t achieve our goal,” says Sibiya.
Meanwhile, Nkadimeng says the contract of employment for the municipal manager is still within the five year period, which allows the council to make amendments as advised by the provincial government.
“We are not opposing that. That’s why today we are having the item in council that we are going but the contract is still within because it says in the legislation that the term of office of the municipal manager is for five years and an extra one year has been added for that contract so that we deal with the issue of advertisement and interviews and so forth,” says Nkadimeng.
