Johannesburg - The ousted ANC mayor of Tlokwe municipality was due to be paid his full salary on Thursday – despite being voted out at the municipality’s last council meeting.
A dispute arose after Maphetle Maphetle was unseated and replaced by the DA’s Annette Combrink on July 2.
Combrink and her mayoral committee members never got to occupy their seats because the ANC challenged the legality of the meeting, after its mayor was removed with the help of its own councillors.
Combrink, whose party has filed a counter-application to have Maphetle thrown out of office and for a DA mayor to be affirmed, said she never expected a mayoral salary on Thursday, and did not expect Maphetle to receive his salary until the Pretoria High Court passed judgment in the case.
But Tlokwe municipality spokesman William Maphosa said Maphetle, members of the mayoral committee (MMCs) and council Speaker Barei Segotso, who were all replaced by DA councillors, had been “carrying out their day-to-day duties and will continue to do so until the court judgment currently being awaited rules otherwise”.
“(Maphetle and Segotso) as well as all his MMCs will receive the salaries due to them. If the court judgment was to rule otherwise concerning the salaries paid out, the council will decide on a course of action at the appropriate time,” Maphosa said.
The Tlokwe mayor gets an annual salary of R670 287.
Combrink, who said she was confident that the court would declare her the rightfully elected mayor of Tlokwe, insisted she would push for Maphetle and others to recompense the council.
Judge Neil Tuchten said this week the ANC were “illegal squatters” at the council offices.
“Paying them salaries for positions they were removed from – which are now subject of a dispute currently before court – would be a big problem,” said Combrink.
“If you read between the lines from court proceedings, I got the impression that our case was the stronger one.
“If wrongfully paid, then they will have to pay back. We were expecting them to get paid ordinary councillors’ salaries like all of us until the court judgment.”
Meanwhile, Maphosa has rejected DA claims that the impasse was having a negative impact on council business, as well as a statement by Judge Tuchten that Tlokwe municipality was paralysed by the mayoral dispute between the ANC and DA.
The DA has also said the impasse was having a negative impact on council business because important decisions could not be taken, including an outstanding matter of a dolomite threat that was supposed to have been tabled before the council this month.
Maphosa said Maphetle had been attending strategic and co-ordinating provincial meetings even after being unseated.
He said the dolomite issue was not a new matter and not as pressing as it was made to look by the DA, adding that the council would meet soon to discuss the issue.
The Star