Renegades 'saw writing on wall'

Details have emerged of how 14 ANC councillors staged the ousting of Tlokwe mayor Maphetle Maphetle.

In court documents Tlokwe council speaker Barei Mosiane-Segotso described the "renegade" ANC councillors and their DA colleagues as a group of disaffected schemers, who had long been planning to remove Maphetle.

Maphetle has refused to vacate his office a week after his removal .

Mosiane-Segotso claims to have instructed her office to cancel the July 2 meeting at which Maphetle was removed.

She, along with chief whip Dakota Legoete and Maphetle, had left for Mahikeng to a disciplinary hearing for the 14 ANC councillors who had initially helped remove Maphetle last year .

On their way to Mahikeng, she received a call indicating that a "council meeting" was in session.

"It was clearly a long-planned strategy hatched in conjunction with the DA councillors," says Mosiane-Segotso in her affidavit.

She said it was desperation on the group's part as it sensed its involvement in the ANC was about to end.

Mosiane-Segotso said her former comrades "went on a frolic of their own, clearly disregarding the political mandate as prescribed by a democratic society .

"It is clear that the aforementioned councillors, given their previous conduct, which resulted in the pending disciplinary proceedings before the provincial executive council of the ANC, were well aware of the fact that their membership was in jeopardy and that they merely saw the meeting as an opportunity to administer the final blow in fulfilling their task in absconding from their mandate."

Her affidavit forms part of an urgent application in the Pretoria High Court to nullify DA councillor Professor Annette Combrink's appointment as mayor last week.

The application is expected to be heard next week. It also seeks to re-instal Maphetle as mayor while nullifying any council decisions that were taken after July 2.

North West DA leader Chris Hattingh said it would "fully respond to the application and is also considering a counter-application".

The DA launched a forensic investigation last year into alleged irregularities at the municipality. The inquiry found that Maphetle siphoned R300000 out of the municipality's poverty relief fund to sponsor a jazz festival.

There were also R3.2-million "fraudulent transactions" relating to shares in the Mooiriver Mall.