The announcement comes more than a month after the death of former mayor, Maetu Kgaile, who passed away due to Covid-19 complications in July this year. 

Amongst the front runners for the mayoral seat, are a former school teacher and municipal speaker, Rose Thabanchu; an ANC Youth League leader, Stella Mondlane; and Maria Ramphele. The IPC's Coordinator, Hlomani Chauke, will make the announcement during a media briefing and will be joined by the leader of the ANC caucus, Khaya Ndincede, who is the party's chief whip. 

However, the significance of the announcement is also in the spotlight as municipal councils across the country are set to be disbanded or dissolved due to Local General Elections set to be held on 1 November 2021.

The announcement of the mayoral candidate in Matlosana comes a few weeks after the North West Provincial Legislature (NWPL) elected former struggle Icon and Robben Island prisoner, the 64-year-old Bushy Maape, as the premiere. He replaced Job Mokgoro who controversially left his post after a fallout with the ANC's IPC. Mokgoro in turn replaced former premier, Supra Mahumapelo, who resigned after sporadic violent protests in Mahikeng due to a lack of service delivery.  

Meanwhile, Matlosana is amongst municipalities besieged by a lack of quality and basic service delivery, as well as financial mismanagement. The former chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) in the North West Provincial Legislature, Mahlakeng Mahlakeng, previously told OFM News that Matlosana and the JB Marks Municipality were once tipped as potential municipalities to be amalgamated to form the first metro municipality in the province.

But according to him, things went south when these two municipalities failed to ensure that consequence management was implemented correctly and financial mismanagement started to raise its ugly head. This was also emphasised by the office of the Auditor-General in a recent audit report.  

OFM News