Factional infighting: Cyril Ramaphosa in his capacity as ANC leader has reportedly intervened in the ANC in Mangaung’s internal battles. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
Problems for the ANC in the embattled Mangaung metro have escalated, with the region expected to expel 10 councillors, including the speaker Stefani Lockman and deputy mayor Mapaseka Mothibi-Nkoane.
This comes after at least 19 councillors were identified as having colluded with the opposition in ousting former acting city manager Sello More. More was found to have been employed unlawfully in a Bloemfontein high court judgment issued against Free State MEC for cooperative governance Mxolisi Dukwana.
The decision by the interim regional committee (IRC) of the ANC to expel the councillors is said to have the backing of party president Cyril Ramaphosa, who this month visited the region and heard concerns from the caucus about those defying the party in the council.
Sources with internal knowledge of the situation said Ramaphosa instructed the region to undertake a formal process and expel those councillors. One insider said six of those who will probably be expelled are proportional representation councillors, while four are ward councillors, pointing to fresh by-elections in the metro.
“There are ringleaders and our deputy mayor and speaker are voting with the opposition and a few councillors who are instrumental. They are known to be allies of [interim provincial committee (IPC) coordinator Paseka] Nompondo. If they don’t vote with the opposition they abstain. We have only one vote as the majority. The ANC has 51 and the opposition has 50 so if people don’t vote, the opposition votes as a block and wins,” the insider said.
There are reportedly three factions in the ANC caucus: the so-called N8 brigade led by Patrick Monyakoana; the IRC, which is aligned to Mangaung mayor Mxolisi Siyonzana and Dukwana; and the third faction, aligned with Free State Premier Sisi Ntombela, who is linked to Mothibi-Nkoane.
The factional infighting was evident during a fierce battle for control of the city’s administrative arm, which resulted in a takeover by the national government.
In letters seen by the Mail & Guardian, Lockman, Dukwana and Siyonzana were at loggerheads over the appointment of city boss Mzingisi Nkungwana. The metro has appointed four city managers in as many months.
On 14 February, Dukwana sent a letter directing Lockman to urgently call a council meeting to employ an acting city manager after the secondment of Teboho Maine was set aside by the courts.
Two days later, Lockman refused to comply, citing the court ruling. She wrote that Maine was still an acting city manager restrained from performing the functions of a permanent manager.
In March, the council chose to appoint Nkungwana. He was previously appointed as head of the department for social services on a fixed-term contract from 1 April 2017 until 31 March 2022.
With the support of Lockman and a legal opinion obtained by Matlho Attorneys, the council sought to extend Nkungwana’s appointment. This is despite section 54(A) of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, which stipulates that should there be no city manager in a municipality, the city council has legislative powers to appoint among its staff members a person who is suitably qualified to hold the position of a city manager in such a position.
Siyonzana then approached the courts, unsuccessfully, to challenge the appointment of Nkungwana.
“It is evident that the written contract concluded with Mr Nkungwana terminated through affluxion of time on 31 March. The nub of the matter is thus that on 1 April Nkungwana was not an employee of the municipality any longer and his written contract of employment had not been extended,” Siyonzana argued in his affidavit.
Nkungwana argued that the mayor was displeased with him as he was not the preferred candidate. In a heated letter to Lockman on 14 April, Nkungwana made several claims against Siyonzana, including that he had taken the law into his hands “simply because he does not accept the council’s decision”.
“For that I believe he has misconducted himself. I continued to reject his conduct. Recently the mayor has even resorted to using courts of law seeking to effectively block me from executing my work. I place on record that on several occasions the executive mayor has called me to the Southern Sun Hotel to influence me to impede, corrupt and block the current investigation of some senior executives, some of which he nominated during the 22 February meeting. I had declined to do so.
“The executive mayor has also tried to cajole me to pay an illegally appointed political staff so that he could eject his chief of staff who he claims behaves like a de facto mayor and was imposed on him. This I also declined to do. I believe that this attack on me is based on those matters including allegations of fraud and corruption that have been brought to my attention which I am investigating. I hereby informed the council that I shall henceforth resume my duties and shall ignore his unlawful instructions to me,” he added.
Speaker Stefani Lockman could be expelled.In a letter Lockman wrote to Siyonzana on 18 April reprimanding him for his actions against Nkungwana, she said it was apparent that he appeared to have disregarded the council and its processes when he approached the court without first raising his concerns with it.
“The council finds itself in the midst of a squabble that might possibly escalate out of control given the position that you and the acting city manager have adopted and this is not desirable. I note with regret that you have not reported to council on any decision you have taken in this matter and that it is clear that you and the acting city manager have a governance-paralysing dispute,” she wrote.
This comes after the cabinet approved placing the metro under the caretakership of the national government, having suffered financial and service delivery failures over a prolonged period.
Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana has delegated powers to cabinet representatives supported by a multidisciplinary team of experts. The cabinet is yet to make a decision on whether it will dissolve the municipal council.
In 2019, Mangaung became the first metro to be placed under administration following numerous warnings by the treasury. Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo said the metro’s failure to provide basic services had prompted the decision.
The metro has been plagued by protests from residents and municipal workers. This week, municipal workers blocked roads and burnt tyres, alleging that they had not received pay. Residents have long complained of poor service delivery.
(John McCann/M&G)Regional ANC convener Lawrence Mathae said the constant change in administration had affected governance.
“We have protests almost every week. People say you are consumed by your own internal fights. There is no water, no consistent removal of refuse. Council is consumed by internal fighting,” he said.
“So we are really disturbed by that. I don’t think the ANC has failed completely. There are people who get into positions of authority and when they are there, they steal and do all sorts of things that do not model the ANC. The ANC has not failed. Its deployees have done a great disservice and failed the communities. These problems have not started now. This is just a manifestation of what has been happening over the past five years.”
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