The ANC Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) Coordinator, Hlomani Chauke, announced Rose Thabanchu is the new mayor-elect during a media briefing on Wednesday. If she succeeds to be voted in as the new mayor in the municipal council she will replace former mayor Maetu Kgaile, who passed on in July due to Covid-19 complications in 2021.

Thabanchu's announcement as the mayor-elect comes when the municipality is counted among municipalities besieged by a lack of quality and basic service delivery, and financial mismanagement. Thabanchu beat ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leader Stella Mondlane and Maria Ramphele to the position of the mayor-elect.

Thabanchu served as a speaker during the time when China Dodovu was the executive mayor. Prior to that, she had just resigned as an educator at the Thuto Tsebo Secondary School in Kanana near Orkney, outside Klerksdorp. 

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

Her announcement as the mayor-elect 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 premier of the province. He replaced former Premier Job Mokgoro, who controversially left his post after a fallout with the ANC's IPC. Mokgoro also replaced another former premier Supra Mahumapelo, who resigned after sporadic violent protests in Mahikeng due to a lack of service delivery.  

OFM News