Polokwane mayor quits

Polokwane mayor Freddy Greaver. Photo: Dumisani Sibeko

Polokwane mayor Freddy Greaver. Photo: Dumisani Sibeko

Published Jun 26, 2014

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Polokwane - Polokwane mayor Freddy Greaver has resigned – two days after the Limpopo ANC fired four other mayors.

Greaver was expected to announce his resignation at Thursday’s council meeting.

The Star understands that Greaver was aggrieved after ANC provincial chairman and Premier Stan Mathabatha reprimanded him at the ANC lekgotla on Saturday.

Mathabatha’s scolding came after Greaver’s scathing criticism last week of people in the ANC he believed wanted to remove him as mayor. He said his detractors were obsessed with power and had no interest in service delivery.

Mathabatha hit back, saying nothing would stop his leadership from restructuring municipalities.

“In this respect, as this leadership, we will refuse to be blackmailed by individuals who have grown bigger than the ANC, and as such, when they deliver their budget speeches in their municipalities, they just decide to attack the ANC out of the blue.”

On Monday night, the ANC provincial executive committee announced the removal of Lawrence Mapoulo, mayor of Capricorn district municipality; his counterpart at the Mopani district municipality, Joshua Matlou; the mayor of Elias Motsoaledi local municipality, Wendy Matemane; and Nkosi Mehlake of Tubatse local municipality.

The four mayors were known allies of EFF leader Julius Malema while he was still in the ANC. The party, however, denies they were sacked because of ties with Malema.

Greaver survived the axe that chopped his colleagues.

An ANC insider said the mayor was never considered for removal, despite him saying people were gunning for his head.

But on Thursday, Greaver decided to call it quits. Two sources who attended Thursday’s ANC caucus meeting confirmed that he had resigned. One source said he first thanked the mayoral committee for the “time we spent together”.

“After the mayoral committee meeting, he announced his resignation at the ANC caucus meeting,” said the source who requested not to be named.

Greaver’s phone rang unanswered on Wednesday and he did not respond to messages.

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The Star

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