The coalition between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) has seen a chain of mayors to former ANC mayors with checkered pasts in the newly formed Ditsobotla Local Municipality council in the North West.
Patriotic Alliance (PA) councilor Elizabeth Itumeleng Lethoko was elected mayor during Monday’s council meeting. The position of speaker went to ANC’s Fikile Jakeni, while Shirley Kgalapa, also a member of the ANC, was elected council whip.
Following the dissolution of dysfunctional municipalities by Parliament, general elections for all 39 council seats were held in December.
In a major blow to the ANC, the ruling party failed to win a majority for the first time, with 39.82%, down from the 51% it received from the 2021 local polls.
Lethoko is in a hurry with the law
Lethoko is not new to the mayoralty or controversy on the ailing council.
A former ANC member, he was reportedly convicted of fraud and breach of the Municipal Finance Management Act in 2015 for trying to influence the finance chief to use municipal funds for a birthday party, disguised as a Women’s Day celebration.
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The same court also found that Lethoko and his colleagues tried to influence the same official to pay R200 000 for services in an irregular and illegal amount, according to the Mail & Guardian.
The incident happened when he was ANC mayor in 2006.
The District Court of Lichtenburg sentenced him to five years or a fine of R10 000. He paid the fine and was quickly elected to the NEC of the ANCWL – despite his criminal record.
ANC’s second coalition with the PA
The first coalition between the two parties in the province took place after the 2021 local polls in JB Marks Local Municipality in Tlokwe, where ANC failed to get a majority to open the council.
Other parties in the Ditsobotla coalition are the Forum For Service Delivery (F4SD) and the African Heart Congress.
Cogta MEC and ANC provincial chairman Nono Maloyi said a meeting between leaders of the two parties would be held in Tlokwe on Tuesday to cement the coalition agreement.
“I think South Africans have concluded that they want a coalition government to work because the coalition is not working in other municipalities. That’s why every time there is a new leader in the council, and we don’t want that.
“People in Ditsobotla have suffered and enough is enough. We want to make sure they get quality services,” said Maloyi Africa Newsroom.
Monday’s hearing follows adjournments and delays in swearing in councilors after the election.
The meeting was held in Mahikeng, an hour’s drive from Lichtenburg-headquarters of Ditsobotla. It was chaired by Cogta provincial official James Mashigo after the EFF objected to Ditsobotla administrator Radinaledi Mosiane chairing the meeting. The red beret said the supervisory board’s business was illegal because his term ended on December 16.
The EFF became the official opposition, ousting the DA after gaining 26% of the vote, and further wresting two wards from the ANC.
The ANC currently has 16 seats, followed by the EFF with 10 and the DA currently with six.
PA has two PR (Public Representative) seats.
F4SD retained two seats, while the few remaining seats went to smaller parties.
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