Central SA
Breaking News: Opposition leader elected as Mangaung mayor─── LUCKY NKUYANE 14:05 Fri, 14 Apr 2023
The Afrikan Alliance For Social Democrats' President, Papi Mokoena, has been elected as the new executive mayor of the troubled Mangaung Metro Municipality in the Free State.
He was elected unopposed.
Some ANC members, including the mayoral candidate Gregory Nthatisi, boycotted the council sitting on Friday 14 April 2023.
ALSO READ: DA councillor elected as speaker of Mangaung
However, at least two ANC councillors, who were expelled by the ANC last month –Deputy Mayor Mapaseka Nkoane Mothibi and Patrick Monyakoane – formed part of the sitting.
A total of 53 councillors, including the council speaker Maryke Davies, formed a quorum and according to Davies, this allowed a sitting.
The Acting City Manager (ACM), Tebogo Motlashuping, and other officials, including the Head of Departments (HODs) and members of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), declined to attend the sitting due to safety concerns.
This was at least the third attempt to convene and hold a council to elect the mayor, following safety concerns and disruption by irate workers and disgruntled residents.
This week, the metro tried to convene but irate workers prevented council members from entering the chambers.
The security was beefed up across entrances on Friday with the police and private security keeping a watchful eye.
The Mayoral vacancy happened after former embattled Mayor Mxolisi Siyonzana resigned following his redeployment by the ANC Free State Provincial Executive Committee (PEC). Siyonzana's resignation was followed by the resignation of former speaker Stefani Lockman Naidoo after she was also asked by the PEC to step down.
During the last sitting, the DA's Davies defeated the ANC's Lawrence Mathae to become the first-ever opposition speaker in the Metro.
ALSO READ: Mangaung council sitting cancelled
Following her election it was revealed that disgruntled ANC councillors voted with the opposition to vote in Davies as the new speaker. This also led to threats by ANC Mangaung Regional Committee to take the sitting to court. Mangaung ANC chairperson Lawrance Mathae addressed journalists at the party's headquarters housed in Kaizer Sebothelo House. Mathae said the outcome of the sitting was illegal. The ANC caucus in the council has been riddled with deep divisions which led to serious infighting.
Mathae also mentioned that eight councillors, including Deputy Mayor Mapaseka Nkoane Mothibi, former speaker Lockman-Naidoo, and former Member of the Mayoral Committee for Transport, Monyakoane, among others, were suspended.
