Picture: Gauteng Democratic Alliance Facebook Page.
Yesterday the Democratic Alliance member of the Lephalale local municipality in the Waterberg district Nico Pienaar was inaugurated as the new mayor in a sitting boycotted by the divided ANC caucus of nineteen members.
Pienaar assumed the mayoral role in the municipality after a drawn out intraparty fighting which saw the original mayor, Alpheus Thulare, being recalled by the provincial party chiefs at Frans Mohlala house in Polokwane. The deposed mayor unsuccessfully mounted a court challenge against his recalled.
During the sitting to elect the new ANC mayoral candidate Aaron Mokgehle, rogue party members voted for the DA’s Pienaar who emerged victorious. Mokgehle who an intimidation charge pending against him, has since been cleared.
Pienaar’s victory brings to three municipalities in opposition control in the province – Modimolle-Mookgophong, Thabazimbi and now Lephalale. All these municipalities are in the Lephalale district, the smallest and weakest of the ANC regions in the province.
Another municipality in the Waterberg district, Mogalakwena, is in a state of perennial administration because it cannot fulfil its constitutional obligations to deliver quality and sustainable services to its citizens.
Political pundits say the developments in Waterberg municipalities do not bode well for the ANC ahead of the 2024 national and provincial elections.
Meanwhile, Pienaar has committed his term of office as mayor to taking services to the people of Lephalale.
The ANC has promised its rebellious members in the municipality, a scorched earth policy of retribution. Provincial spokesperson Jimmy Machaka has been widely quoted saying that councillors who voted against the party “face the full might of the organisation’s internal processes and policies.
If the stand off continues between the party and its members, expulsions may ensue calling for by-elections as hinted by Machaka. There is no guarantee that the ANC may win against its renegade members.
Drama-filled days await the people of Lephalale as the inner-party strife persists in the ANC.