OFM News has been informed that the council, in which the ANC has the vast majority of seats, on Wednesday during a special sitting extended Rachere Moletsane’s tenure as acting Moqhaka Mayor for seven working days. Moletsane was the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) responsible for Finance at the time of Phooko’s death. Leader of the DA in the Moqhaka caucus, David Nzunga, lets OFM News in on the reasons behind the extension of Moletsane’s time at the helm.

Nzunga tells OFM News the council was unable to proceed with the election of the mayor, because “the ANC does not have a candidate as per the instruction of Luthuli House on who should be the mayor from their side. As the DA we are also contesting the position of the executive mayor of the Moqhaka Local Municipality and we are confident we are going to win,” concludes Nzunga.

The ANC is yet to comment on Nzunga’s claims.

The 49-year-old Phooko, who was elected mayor in 2019, died suddenly en route to a Pax clinic located in his native town of Viljoenskroon, on 14 September. His death was received with shock from his colleagues and fellow ANC members. At the time of his death, he was also the Free State chairperson of the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco).

Nzunga previously told OFM News, the deceased was a proportional representation (PR) councillor and not an elected ward councillor. This meant there wouldn’t be by-elections, rather “a replacement from his political party would be selected”. PR councillors are chosen based on the number of votes a political party gets in a local government election, they are not elected individually per se.

Phooko occupied the position of Council Whip of Moqhaka in 2016, then took over the Executive mayor role of the Free State municipality from the now MEC of Public Works and Human Settlements in the province, Tshidi Koloi, in 2019. During his shortened tenure at the helm, he oversaw the return of the Mayoral games, in 2019, four years after they were phased out. In his first interview with OFM News, during his first 100 days in office, Phooko said the return of the games, was aimed at “bringing the community together, also to make sure there’s stability and unity”.

OFM News