Turncoats turn up on DA ticket in Tlokwe

Tlokwe municipality in Potchefstroom, North West. Picture: Boxer Ngwenya/Independent Media

Tlokwe municipality in Potchefstroom, North West. Picture: Boxer Ngwenya/Independent Media

Published Jul 24, 2016

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Johannesburg - Posters for political parties contesting the local government elections in the North West town of Tlokwe (Potchefstroom), particularly those of the DA, feature some unlikely faces.

The faces of no fewer than three prominent figures - turncoats from the ANC, Cope and the EFF - have found pride of place on posters hoisted on lamp posts under the colours of the DA.

Perhaps the most radical shift in policy choices has been that made by former EFF regional organiser Romeo Matjila, who turned against Julius Malema’s militant “fighters” to stand as a ward candidate for the DA, a party well to the right of the EFF.

Another major gain for the DA has been Cope’s North West spokesman and sole sitting councillor in Tlokwe, Kenneth Maduna, who is now standing in his ward as a candidate for the party.

“While Cope has stagnated in terms of growth, the DA has shown encouraging potential to grow as a regional and national force. The DA’s policies also resonate with my thinking,” Maduna said.

He is running against candidates for the ANC and EFF and an independent. Cope’s Kholiwe Adonis dismissed Maduna’s new DA colours as a non-event, saying the ward councillor had “always had his heart in the DA”.

Also standing as a ward councillor for the DA is Glen Mashego, a former trusted confidant of erstwhile Tlokwe mayor and ANC strongman Maphetle Maphetle.

The Freedom Front Plus’s spokesman in Tlokwe, Vincent Clarke, said the steady flow of party leaders into the ranks of the DA was cause for concern, especially for the ANC.

The DA’s Potchefstroom/Ventersdorp constituency head, Juanita Terrelanche, said this was an indication of shifting voter patterns at the grass roots.

She said the ANC was roping in party political heavyweights one after the other into Tlokwe and that this was an indication of its nervousness before the August 3 elections.

The composition of the Tlokwe council has been in contention amid disputes about by-elections and with the ANC holding on to its majority by a thread. The ANC has 22 seats, the DA 19, the Freedom Front Plus one, and Cope a single seat.

Opposition formations such as the DA, EFF, Cope and the loose collective of Tlokwe’s independent candidates have not ruled out the possibility of a coalition council.

The ANC is having none of this, however.

“We have no history of coalition co-operation with other parties and we do not intend to,” said the ANC’s North West spokesman, Dakota Legoete.

With questions being raised in the Constitutional Court about the verification of addresses on its voters roll, the town is set to attract much interest come August 3.

The Sunday Independent

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