Oudtshoorn is one of only six municipalities in the Western Cape that are governed by the ANC. But the courts have been asked to decide whether the ANC is still in charge or whether the DA's "takeover" on May 31 is legitimate.
The municipality has been besieged by problems relating to poor governance and is being probed by the Special Investigating Unit.
The ANC controversially kept in the municipality's employ an unqualified municipal manager for months in 2012, even after the Western Cape High Court ruled that he be removed for incompetence.
The ANC's own monitoring and evaluation team has identified Oudtshoorn as one of 23 municipalities in need of intervention.
ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile told the Mail & Guardian in April that one of the ANC team's findings was that leadership of the municipality was weak and not equal to the task of turning it around.
"The national ANC left it to the province to determine who to deploy," he said at the time.
Warring factions
According to ANC sources, the deployment of new leadership in the municipality has been the latest bone of contention for warring factions in the ANC's provincial executive.
One group wanted long-standing ANC member and councillor Charlie Wagenaar to take over the mayoral chain, while the other group wanted chief whip Pieter Luiters.
The party failed to implement the decision to appoint the new leadership for more than six weeks because its provincial and regional leaders couldn't agree on who to appoint.
Provincial chair Marius Fransman, who is also South Africa's deputy minister of international relations and co-operation, was physically attacked in an ANC meeting when he went to brief members about the national office's decision in April.
"The ANC will end any bad governance, political interference in operations and soliciting of personal patronage in Oudtshoorn," said Fransman following the attack. "The ANC will not allow consistent threats or attacks on its leaders there or tolerate excesses."
On May 31, the DA tabled a motion of no confidence in the speaker, mayor and deputy mayor of Oudtshoorn. DA spokesperson Mmusi Maimane said five of the 11 ANC councillors, along with the caucus of the Congress of the People, voted with the DA. After the council meeting, the five ANC councillors who supported the motion resigned and joined the DA.
Maladministration
"The ANC councillors were clear about the reasons for their resignation. They are fed up with bad service delivery, mismanagement and maladministration within the ANC-led municipality," said Maimane.
One of the five ANC members who voted with the DA and later joined that party is Luiters, whom the other ANC faction was touting for the mayoral chain.
This week, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe visited Oudtshoorn with his deputy, Jessie Duarte. Sources say Mantashe read the provincial and regional leadership the riot act, accusing it of being weak and having failed the municipality.
He also held a community meeting in Bridgeton township, where he asked the community to vote for ANC candidates in by-elections that were the result of defections.
"He accused the leadership of dealing with issues factionally, saying it must accept that it is [the leadership] which has failed the people of Oudtshoorn," said a source.
In the meantime, the municipality is challenging the DA takeover, saying that it did not follow the required processes. Speaker Johannes Stoffels has approached the Western Cape High Court, asking it to set aside the decisions taken on May 31.
DA provincial spokesperson Liza Albrecht said the party had asked for a special council meeting for June 19, would once again attempt to table a motion of no confidence in the mayor, his deputy and the speaker and would seek to elect its own members. She said this would be done to avoid going to court in the interest of saving costs.
Fransman refused to comment and referred questions to Mjongile, who did not respond to attempts to get hold of him. Neither Mantashe nor ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu returned calls.