Tlokwe, North West - The national ANC on Tuesday welcomed the re-instatement of Maphetle Maphetle as mayor of the Tlokwe municipality in the North West.
“The African National Congress (ANC) welcomes the Tlokwe municipal councillors' (move) for the rectification of a mistake which led to the removal of an ANC mayor...” ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said in a statement.
Maphetle reclaimed the seat he lost to Democratic Alliance member Annette Combrink after he won by 31 votes to 21.
The municipal council passed a vote of no confidence in Combrink before the voting took place.
Fighting ANC factions passed a motion of no confidence in mayor Maphetle in November. He was replaced by Combrink Ä the first DA mayor in the province Ä when she defeated ANC candidate Lucky Tsagae by 20 votes to 19 for the mayoral position.
“The ANC is satisfied that the ANC caucus did the right thing by restoring its mayor. We hope that a similar occurrence would not happen again anywhere within the country because we cannot govern on the basis of trial and error,” Mthembu said.
The party said it would investigate the circumstances that led to Maphetle's removal.
Meanwhile, the DA said it intended continuing with a court case on the ANC's no confidence motion against Combrink. The matter was scheduled to be heard by the High Court in Pretoria on April 29.
“The DA plans to continue with the case involving several irregularities in the tabling of the motion,” said DA leader in the North West, Chris Hattingh.
The party criticised the ANC for allowing the voting to continue despite the pending court case.
“This decision shows blatant disregard for court processes currently underway.”
He said the motion of no confidence passed against Maphetle last November was based on a number of documented allegations of fraud and corruption.
He accused the ANC of replacing Maphetle to cover its tracks.
“(We) believe that the ANC is resorting to irregular means to gain back power in an attempt to cover up fraud and corruption before it is exposed.” - Sapa