Bring in Des van Rooyen to referee Beaufort West council spat‚ ANC says

15 March 2017 - 18:32 By Aphiwe Deklerk
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Des van Rooyen
Des van Rooyen
Image: RUVAN BOSHOFF

A call has been made for Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Des van Rooyen and his team to enter the ring at Beaufort West where the DA and the ANC have been at blows for control of the municipality.

Last month the DA's Koos Malooi resigned as the mayor of the oldest municipality in the country. This has left the Karoo municipality in limbo and political parties scrambling for the throne.

Anton Bredell‚ MEC for local government‚ stepped in to quell tensions. Now Bredell has been accused of trying to push the DA to take interim control.

Faiez Jacobs‚ leader of the ANC in the Western Cape‚ said Bredell - who is member of the DA - has been biased by pushing for his own party.

Jacobs addressed the Cape Town Press Club on Wednesday and said they are insisting that Van Rooyen should intervene.

"It is unfair that Bredell uses his power as the MEC to shore up the DA during this period so that they can use the space to get advantage. Bredell is not a fair MEC that plays by the Constitution. He is clearly biased‚'' said Jacobs.

He said his party wanted an arrangement during the transitional period where the DA and ANC co-govern the council.

“There must be an arrangement where the ANC either takes the mayoral position or we take the speaker or the [mayoral committee] gets shared for this interim arrangement‚” said Jacobs.

The Beaufort West council fell into DA hands last year after the party struck a coalition deal with the Karoo Democratic Force.

A by-election to elect a councillor for ward seven‚ were Malooi was previously a councillor‚ will only be held in May.

This means the municipality is without a leader as no party has an outright majority to win a vote.

Jacobs said he will meet with representatives from Cogta to discuss the Beaufort West situation.

The municipality was due to sit for another council meeting on Wednesday to try and resolve the leadership crisis.

Jacobs also told The Times that his councillors in Kannaland municipality had defied the provincial leadership again when they refused to cut ties with the DA at the local council.

Following the local government elections‚ both the DA and ANC national leaders were caught off guard when councillors formed a coalition to govern the municipality in defiance to national leadership.

The two parties had refused to go into coalition with each other in other municipalities across the country.

Last week‚ Jacobs released a statement saying they had instructed that Mayor Magdaleen Barry and her deputy‚ Phillipus Antonie be recalled. But the party in the municipality defied the instruction.

Jacobs said the councillors would face a disciplinary action.

TimesLive could not reach Bredell for comment.

- TMG Digital/The Times

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