The ANC Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) in the North West says it has written to the IEC to request them to declare vacancies in six of the province’s municipalities.
This comes after the party took a decision to remove municipal mayors, speakers and Chief Whips at a number of non-performing municipalities. The party says the affected councillors failed to provide leadership in their respective municipalities.
ANC North West changes mayors, speakers and Chief Whips of five municipalities:
18 councillors from a number of municipalities were supposed to have resigned.
The affected municipalities include Mahikeng, Ditsobotla in Lichtenburg, Maqwassie Hills in Wolmaranstad, Matlosana in Klerksdorp, Ratlou in Setlagole, and Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District in Vryburg.
However, it seems the affected councillors are defying the instruction of the party. The party says all its efforts to engage them or remove them through a motion of no confidence has dismally failed.
Coordinator for the ANC IPC, Hlomane Chauke, says they have now requested the IEC to declare vacancies in the affected municipalities.
“We have written to the IEC in all the five municipalities, including Tswaing municipality that we have now added to remove the troika of those municipalities based on all the challenges that we have cited. We are now at the same time getting frustrated by municipal managers who happen to be part of this corruption that we are fighting in these municipalities who do not want to create vacancies, who are in collusion with this people we are removing at councils.”
The IEC has confirmed receipt of the letter of request from the IPC.
However, the electoral body says procedurally, the request for the declaration of vacancies is the responsibility of the municipal managers in the affected municipalities.
“Yes, indeed we received letters from the ANC requesting us to declare vacancies. However, the procedure is that the declaration of vacancies comes to the IEC through the municipal manager not through the party authorised. We have not received not a single declaration of vacancy from any of the affected municipalities. We have not heard from the municipal managers at all,” IEC Provincial Electoral Officer, Dr Tumelontle Thiba explained.
Dr Thiba says they have further received a letter from one of the municipalities, disassociating themselves from the request of the IPC.
“We have received one letter from one municipality from three councillors of one municipality, stating that the request for a declaration was not legal and that we should not act on it.”
The IPC has blamed the stalemate of municipal managers and says it has now requested the intervention from the office of the MEC for local government.
“Before the end of the week, we have asked the MEC for local government. We have written to them as a party to intervene because clearly, even the decision of the party to remove these people gets frustrated by municipal managers. So it’s a matter that we will have to deal with and make sure that we push government. It cannot be that administrators of government in fact are frustrating a political process not wanting to declare vacancies,” says coordinator for the IPC, Hlomane Chauke.
When contacted, the office of the MEC for local government confirmed receipt of the request for intervention from the IPC and says the matter will be attended to soon.
