Your Weekly Inside Look at the Battle for Power in Norman Mashabane
Welcome to this week’s edition of Mopani Sting. If you thought local politics was quiet, think again. The African National Congress in the Norman Mashabane region is locked in an all-out civil war over power, position, and control.
This week, we take a close look at two huge explosions shaking the region: the open challenge to Regional Chairperson Dagma Mamanyoha and the growing fury over Regional Secretary Sonia Ngobeni’s one-woman show.
THE ONE-WOMAN JAMBOREE: SONIA NGOBENI CALLS ALL THE SHOTS
Inside party corridors, people are no longer whispering. They are shouting. Regional Secretary Sonia Ngobeni stands accused of running the entire region as a one-woman show.
Lately, party structures seem to mean very little. Ngobeni is accused of acting as the sole decider, picking her personal favorites for key posts and deciding who gets on municipal lists. The breaking point came when the proportional representation candidate list for the Greater Tzaneen Municipality was put together.
In a shocking move, Women’s League Regional Chairperson Letty Hlangwana was left off the list. Women across Mopani are furious. They view this as a direct insult to female leadership.
The anger boiled over during the Nelson Mandela Memorial Lecture in Phalaborwa. Organised by the Women’s League, the event became a public fightback against Ngobeni’s heavy-handed control. A leader from the Young Women’s Desk put it plainly: official decisions must come from formal meetings with recorded minutes. She warned that the secretary is not the entire party structure on her own. If elected leaders refuse to act, young women will lead themselves.
Giyani leader Oscar Shangu Maswanganyi also took to social media to call out top officials. He reminded Chairperson Dagma Mamanyoha, Deputy Secretary Tsheko Musolwa, and Treasurer Mabunda Hetisani Sydwell that they were elected by members, not appointed as puppets. His message was sharp: the one-woman show must come to an end immediately.
THE WAR FOR THE MAYOR’S CHAIN: CAN MAMANYOHA SURVIVE THE TRIBAL ATTACKS?
While Ngobeni runs her jamboree, Regional Chairperson Dagma Mamanyoha is fighting for his political life.
With Executive Mayor Pule Shayi heading to provincial government to become the MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, the top seat at the Mopani District Municipality will soon be empty. In normal party rules, the regional chairperson steps into the mayoral post. Mamanyoha should naturally take the chain.
However, a fierce plan is underway to sabotage Mamanyoha’s succession ambitions.
A small faction is pushing Mopani Mayoral Committee Member Basani Shivambu for the top job. To block Mamanyoha, this group is playing a dangerous card: tribalism. They claim that the Giyani area is due to take over the mayoral chain, arguing that Mamanyoha should not lead because he comes from Ha-Matshwi.
Mamanyoha has officially come out of his shell. Speaking at the Phalaborwa lecture, he spat fire at his detractors. He slammed the use of tribal politics, calling it an evil tool used by the old apartheid government to keep African people divided.
Mamanyoha dared his enemies to confront him on facts, not ethnic identity. He told them that if they think he is not fit to be Regional Chair, they should say he lacks capacity to lead, rather than pointing at where he was born.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The battle lines in Mopani are drawn. On one side, you have a regional secretary running a one-woman jamboree and hand-picking candidate lists. On the other side, you have a regional chairperson fighting off tribal attacks to claim his rightful seat as district mayor.
As local government elections draw closer, Mopani members are asking one simple question: Who is really in charge of the Norman Mashabane region?
Stay tuned to Mopani Sting for next week’s update on the region’s top political drama.