Local News
Sol Plaatje municipality to fill nine councilor vacancies─── 06:00 Mon, 10 Dec 2018
The nine expelled Sol Plaatje municipality councillors say they're awaiting word on their appeal from the African National Congress (ANC) NEC.
This as voter registration for by-elections for those vacancies on the council took place this weekend.
In the wake of violent protests by community members against a proposed electricity tariff increase, 11 ANC councillors voted with the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) to remove former mayor Mangaliso Matika in a motion of no confidence earlier this year.
Nine ward councillors were expelled for this.
In February next year, by-elections will take place to fill those vacancies. The IEC hopes to get another 5 000 new voters on the roll. With only three months between this by-election and the national election, they are using this as a dry-run.
“For now we are concentrating on the by- elections but once a person had been registered they are on the roll forever, unless they change their details so if they register for these by-elections it's for the national election as well, ” says IEC’s Awie Seekoei.
It’s unclear if the expelled councillors will stand as independents should their appeal fail. There have been calls by the community for them to stand on their own.
