The Municipal Manager (MM), Tankiso Mea, has filed an urgent court application to challenge his suspension which is set to sit later Thursday afternoon at the Motion Court in Bloemfontein. He is expected to implore the court to set aside and declare his suspension unlawful. He was suspended after a string of allegations of misconduct and maladministration against him. In total, 62 council members, including ANC, DA and EFF members, on Friday voted for his suspension, 29 against it, whilst the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) failed to cast its vote due to network issues.

The sitting followed violent protests which intended to shut down Bloemfontein over a lack of service delivery, the rate of unemployment, and alleged massive corruption.

As part of the negotiations to suspend the shutdown, the protesters argued that the council should be dissolved because they let corruption thrive under their watch.

The MEC for Cooperative Governance (Cogta), Thembeni Ngxangisa, threatened to take the council to court if it failed to take a resolution to suspend Mea.

OFM News