Pretoria - ANC regional deputy secretary and Tshwane Transport MMC George Matjila has been expelled from the ruling party.
Prescribed process will now unfold to withdraw Matjila as a public representative in the wake of his expulsion from the party.
The ANC provincial disciplinary committee on Monday kicked Matjila out of the party for destabilising and disrupting the Tshwane ANC Youth League conference in August 2014.
He was found guilty of contravening several rules and the constitution of the ANC, as the mastermind behind the plan to disrupt the conference.
In accordance with the decision, Matjila must vacate his council post as political head of roads and transport, as well as his position in the ANC regional structure.
He sits on the party’s highest structure in the region with mayor and regional chairman Kgosientso Ramokgopa, deputy chairman Mapiti Matsena, regional secretary Paul Mojapelo and treasurer Dolly Ledwaba.
Ramokgopa’s spokesman, Blessing Manale, said the mayor would await the prescribed council process to unfold.
He said: “The process entails a formal interaction between the chief whip and Speaker of council and the Independent Electoral Commission, as prescribed in the various legislations, electoral code and Municipal Structures Act, regarding the vacation of office by councillors.”
Ramokgopa will inevitably consider the options available at the appropriate time, among them the designation of an acting MMC.
There were other options such as reallocating the functions in the portfolio to other portfolios, or appointing an MMC for the remainder of the council, with or without a reshuffle of the mayoral committee, Manale said.
Mondli Gungubele, head of the provincial disciplinary committee of the ANC and Ekurhuleni mayor, said Matjila was found guilty of serious acts of misconduct, and the fact that he was a senior member of the party didn’t count in his favour.
He said that as a senior member of the organisation, the MMC ought to have known better.
According to Gungubele, Matjila’s seniority in the party aggravated the charges he had been found guilty of. “The provincial disciplinary committee found this behaviour inconsistent with the democratic values of the ANC and in contravention with the rules governing discipline in the ANC,” he said.
“The motive behind the plan was to ensure the conference did not proceed because in his view, a faction hostile to the regional leadership was going to emerge.”
Gungubele said the problem had continued to rear its ugly head in the organisation and it was the considered view of the disciplinary committee that it should be rooted out. This conduct could not be reconciled with the historic mission of the ANC, he added.
ANC Tshwane regional spokesman Teboho Joala said the structure in the region had noted the decision and respected it.
“We are awaiting the regional office bearers and higher structures of the ANC to give us guidance on the way forward regarding this matter.”
DA spokesman for roads and transport in the city, Francois Bekker, said Matjila had always been an invisible MMC who never graced oversight committee meetings. “I cannot recall a single speaking term where he addressed the council on transport issues. He was missing in action with the many Tshwane Bus Service problems. My question to the ANC is; why did it take you so long to get rid of him?”
Matjila’s name has been mentioned in a few controversies to have hit the ANC in Tshwane since the beginning of the year.
In January, Matjila was fingered by disgruntled ANC members as being behind the violence that saw branch meetings degenerating into chaos. Candidates for the upcoming elections were being elected at the meetings.
At least 16 women from Hammanskraal went to the regional offices in Arcadia and stripped naked as part of the demonstrations against the alleged vote rigging at their branch. They claimed that Matjila had engineered the disruption of their branch meeting.
This was followed by another incident in which party members from Atteridgeville burned T-shirts with the face of President Jacob Zuma to vent their anger and frustrations on the outcome of their branch meeting. Matjila was again named as the mastermind behind the disruptions.
But he told the Pretoria News at the time that his accusers had a plot to unseat Ramokgopa.
Matjila could not be reached for comment on Monday.
WHO IS Matjila?
George Matjila was born in Stinkwater, Hammanskraal, in 1974 and completed his secondary education at Bokamoso High School before obtaining a certificate in women and children’s social issues at Unisa.
He was Cosas leader during his high school years and a member of the SA Students Congress from 1994 to 1998 at Unisa.
He was also regional ANCYL member from 2008 to 2010 and branch chairman in Stinkwater.
In 2002, Matjila received the Young Community Builder of the Year Award in Hammanskraal, as well as the Best Performing Contractor Award in 2005.
He has been a member of the ANC for more than 25 years.
The city implemented the A Re Yeng system, started scheduled flights at Wonderboom Airport and upgraded roads under his watch.
Pretoria News