Western Cape local government minister Marius Fransman has instructed the mayor of the central Karoo District Council to suspend Truman Prince immediately, South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) news reported on Friday.
Fransman earlier said he couldn’t fire the Beaufort West municipal manager himself due to legal constraints.
Prince is facing charges of public violence, crimen injuria and assault following incidents in the past two weeks, the SABC reported.
Radio station Cape Talk said on Friday that Fransman had described Prince’s behaviour as unbecoming a municipal official.
He had also given the Central Karoo municipality a deadline of May 6 to finalise its investigation into Prince, the station said.
Prince was released on R200 bail on Thursday night after being arrested at the local police station following what police said was ”outrageous behaviour”. He will appear in the Beaufort West Magistrate’s Court on May 11.
The arrest followed a clash with police and the SABC’s Special Assignment television crew inside the Beaufort West police station.
Prince, a former mayor of Beaufort West, featured earlier this year in a Special Assignment documentary on child prostitution.
After losing his post as mayor, he was appointed municipal manager. In that post, he was suspended by the municipality and then reinstated at the end of last month. — Sapa