The mayor of Mpumalanga’s Lekwa municipality, the mayoral committee, the speaker and the chief whip were fired on Wednesday, the African National Congress (ANC) said.
This was done in accordance with its ”zero-tolerance” policy for officials who did not deliver services, the party said in a statement.
”The ANC is committed to bring a lasting stability in Lekwa and firmly believes that the culmination of the unrest we have seen in the past weeks can be traced to the scramble for power and state resources in the local council.
”The ANC subscribes to the principle that people come first.”
Lekwa municipality incorporates both the town of Standerton and neighbouring Sakhile township, which had seen service delivery protests in the past few weeks.
The municipality will be put under administration by the Mpumalanga provincial government for a year ”to address concerns of mismanagement, weak administrative systems, charges of fraud and corruption”.
This came after ANC national executive committee member Fikile Mbalula, ANC Youth League president Julius Malema and Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza met the leadership of Standerton on Wednesday following recent service delivery protests.
However, all councillors including the two that resigned last week would resume with their duties, despite calls for their resignation by community members.
Community activist Phanuel Manana said: ”The NWC did not recommend that councillors resign. But we are happy because they will not enjoy the powers that they used to have as they will be reporting to province.”
Residents of Sakhile in Standerton broke out in song celebrating the decision by the ANC NWC.
”We are now going to the [Sakhile] stadium to report back to the masses,” said Manana.
In recent weeks the Sakhile township saw violent protests over complaints of corruption and bad service delivery. Residents demanded the resignation of the mayor and councillors. — Sapa