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Moqhaka Local Municipality
A council meeting meant to elect the new mayor and speaker of Moqhaka Local Municipality in the Free State has collapsed after 22 African National Congress (ANC) councillors failed to show up.
The election of the mayor and speaker was set to take place after their sudden resignation on Monday.
Chief whip for the The Moqhaka Community Forum, Morena Thebe, says the sudden resignations have brought instability to the municipality.
“We’ve had the worst executive mayor ever in the history of this municipality, and we’ve been advocating to say the executive mayor must just give way and give way for someone who was competent so that the community and the institution can get exactly what they deserve. So it took them four and a half years, you know, to take action in terms of replacing. We are only left with our four months before the next elections, what’s the rush?”
Executive mayor Motloheloa Mokatsane and council speaker Selloane Khiba resigned just days apart.
Opposition parties at Moqhaka local Municipality in the Free State have welcomed the resignation of the mayor and speaker.
The Democratic Alliance council whip, Sidney Pittaway says he is hopeful that the dire situation of Moqhaka can still change.
The duo’s resignations come months after the ANC identified Moqhaka as being among seven mismanaged municipalities in the province.
Pittaway elaborates, “It’s very unfortunate for the Moqhaka that we have this situation today, where the ANC absconded from the council meeting, and I hope that they will be charged under the code of conduct for not submitting apologies to this and causing embarrassment actually to us as a council. So we are very grateful, and they are paying to replace a very incompetent mayor, and we think he single-handedly caused the downfall of Moqhaka over the last four years.”
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Reporting by Abigail Visagie
