Ditsobotla mayor withdraws resignation after ANC & PA 'find each other'

The mayor of the Ditsobotla municipality in the North West has withdrawn her resignation letter she submitted to ANC speaker Fikile Jakene.

Resigning just hours after being elected on Tuesday, Elizabeth Lethoko said she was objecting to the ANC’s bid to appoint the administrator as municipal manager.

According to the Patriotic Alliance (PA), Lethoko wrote in a letter to the speaker: “As you well know, following the conclusion of all the items on the council agenda, a surprise matter was tabled — that of appointing the administrator as the municipal manager.”

She said neither she nor the coalition had been consulted by the ANC about the appointment.

The embattled mayor said not only could she not be complicit with such behaviour, she would not be asked to answer for it and the PA refused to be associated with “underhanded tactics”.

However, the ANC said the PA misunderstood the proceedings, the mayor thus making a misinformed decision to resign.

Provincial ANC spokesperson Tumelo Maruping said the municipal manager issue was not an item on the agenda, but rather an announcement made by the speaker which was part of the notices.

“It was not a motion and they did not understand that part. They thought the motion was sponsored by the ANC but it was not a motion, it was just an announcement that the MEC of Cogta [cooperative governance & traditional affairs] had seconded an official from the department to become an acting municipal manager until council can constitute a meeting,” Maruping said.

The administrator, James Mashego, was a director from the department of Cogta and was seconded before the council was constituted.

“That person was seconded in terms of section 154, which is allowed by the law, because there was no municipal manager or acting municipal manager,” Maruping said.

He added that the previous administrator’s contract had ended on December 31, so Mashego was seconded to preside over the affairs of the council until such time as it was constituted.

“The decision was that council must then appoint its own municipal manager.

“There is going to be a council, which is yet to be announced by the speaker, and before council sits there is going to be a caucus and that decision will be made. As things stand now, we have not made a decision on that.”

Meanwhile, PA deputy president Kenny Kunene said the manner in which the ANC conducted itself was wrong as there was no consultation with the mayor or the coalition partners.

“Once council is constituted, provincial intervention and the administrator’s job ends right there,” he said.

“It’s not about the individual, it was about the process. We were not happy with how things were done. The item to appoint a municipal manager was not on the agenda of council, and the speaker then tried to sneak it in, and that is where the problem is.”

Kunene said the parties had now “found each other”.

“Their national officials deployed NEC member David Mahlobo to facilitate discussions, who then met with us and we had discussions on Tuesday — and then on Wednesday we met with the provincial leadership to reach an understanding on what must take place and the process going forward,” he said.

They had agreed in principle that the appointment of the municipal manager must be left to councillors to deal with.

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