During the funeral service of the late MEC for Education, Tate Makgoe, ANC Secretary-General, Fikile Mbalula, confirmed that the party will deploy Gregory Nthatisi to become the new Mayor of the troubled Mangaung Metro. This was after the resignation of Mxolisi Siyonzana a week ago. 

Gregory Nthatisi

At the press conference held on 15 March 2023, DA Caucus leader in the Metro, Johan Pretorius, lashed out at the ANC for using the metro as their factional battleground. The ANC currently holds 51 votes and would need two more votes for it to win the mayoral position in the metro. The ANC could see its dominance in the metro coming to an end if its councillors in the metro do not adhere to policies of the party as a result of ongoing factional battles.

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Pretorius said that the appointment of Nthatisi as the councillor of Mangaung would continue the metro’s woes as he does not have experience in the position of local governance. He added that Nthatisi will continue in his predecessors’ footsteps, who has proven to be incompetent. He said vacant, critical positions – with the latest resignation of Speaker Stephany Lockman – is proof that Mangaung is crumbling.

“At this stage, we are sitting with no speaker, no mayor, only an acting mayor, no chief whip in council, no city manager, and actually no HOD. So how can you manage a metro if you have no leaders? So, we are really worried and felt that it is time we gave information to the residents,” he said.

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Meanwhile, the election of Nthatisi as the mayor is set to take place next week. But it's, however, understood that issues are besieging Nthatisi, picked up by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). It said the ANC might have to return to the drawing board and select Lawrence Mathae as the new mayoral candidate. Pretorius said they have initiated talks with other parties to back the DA on the vacant metro position.

“We are actually relying on the hearts of the good councillors in the council, it doesn’t matter what party you are affiliated with. We are relying on them, its going to be a secret ballot, so we are really relying on them to support the DA candidate because where we govern we showed that we govern well, so if we are going to be in talks, it will be to promote our DA candidate,” concluded Pretorius.

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