The ANC in the North West is willing to take drastic measures to win back control of the Potchefstroom-based Tlokwe local municipality, including forcing the collapse of the entire council.
The ruling party also fears the revolt that resulted in ANC councillors voting with the opposition to replace a ruling party mayor with a Democratic Alliance (DA) member could spread to other municipalities in the province where there has been unhappiness.
Some ANC councillors in Tlokwe voted with the opposition on Tuesday in electing Annette Combrink as mayor, unseating the ANC's Maphetle Maphetle for the second time in seven months.
Fourteen ANC councillors have been expelled from the party for their role in the vote.
The mayhem in Tlokwe has raised fears within the provincial ANC that more councillors could follow the same strategy the Tlokwe councillors adopted.
The Mail & Guardian has learned from two provincial leaders that the North West provincial executive committee (PEC) is closely watching the Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality in Mahikeng and the Ramotshere Moiloa local municipality in Zeerust for signs of rebellion.
Ngaka Modiri Molema has been problematic for the ANC since Phaladi Saku was appointed mayor by a faction led by former provincial secretary Kabelo Mataboge against the PEC's recommendation of Manketse Tlhape, now MEC for local government and traditional affairs.
Preferred candidate
In Ramotshere Moiloa, the ANC removed Afrika Thale when he refused to resign as mayor as requested by the provincial working committee because he was not the PEC's preferred candidate after the 2011 local government elections.
There are other municipalities where problems have been bubbling under the surface, such as Ditsobotla and Tswaing, although the ANC does not regard the two as offering the fertile ground for rebellion that Ngaka Modiri Molema and Ramotshere Moiloa do, and says they can be reined in without difficulty if necessary.
The North West ANC has been bedevilled by internal problems for a while and some of the divisions can be traced to different leadership choices before last year's Mangaung conference.
It is the ANC's fight-back strategy that is likely to result in its success or failure in wresting control from the DA.
To dissolve the Tlokwe municipal council, the ANC needs to instruct all its councillors to resign, leaving the municipality with 22 opposition councillors.
"The council will automatically collapse," said a PEC member with details of the strategy the party is considering.
"The council needs 50 plus one of the originally elected number."
The less radical step on the table is to replace the proportional representation councillors who have resigned, which will increase to 22 the remaining ANC councillors, then wait for a by-election to replace eight councillors and give the ANC its majority back. That way, the ANC can remove Combrink in the same way Maphetle was removed. The ANC is also considering approaching the court to challenge the legality of the Tuesday council meeting.
Municipality's problems
In Ngaka Modiri Molema, the ANC plans to replace councillors with those who will follow the leadership's instructions and vote Saku out as mayor.
Tlokwe councillors openly defied the ANC even after the national working committee visited the area twice and selected a committee to help address the municipality's problems.
Mike Khauwe, provincial chairperson of the disciplinary committee, said the 14 councillors were expelled from the party because they "brought the organisation into disrepute, [an act] which manifests a flagrant violation of the moral integrity expected of members and public representatives, coupled with failure on the part of them [councillors] to adhere to a directive to appoint the municipal manager of the City of Tlokwe local municipality."
Two of the 16 councillors pleaded guilty and were sentenced to rehabilitation programmes that include attending a political school.
Khauwe said the ANC would "work hard" to win by-elections, and to "explain to the community what happened and apologise for the councillors' conduct".
ANC allies rallied behind the ruling party, with Cosatu saying the councillors' conduct was "the worst reactionary act that we have seen since the dawn of democracy". The South African Communist Party said voting for a DA mayor was "not just an issue of a low level of discipline but an attack on our revolution".