Lephalale Council meeting expels 3 ANC Cllrs and directs Municipal Manager to declare vacancies.

Lephalale Council meeting expels 3 ANC Cllrs and directs Municipal Manager to declare vacancies.

Lephalale: The Ordinary Council Meeting held today the 31st March 2023, took 2 drastic decisions that could see ANC cllrs expelled immediately from the organization. The Council inagurated cllr Louisa Bopape as the Mayor of Lephalale since the removal of the DA Mayor, Pienaar. Despite the ANC decision to install the Regional Deputy Secretary of the ANC in Waterberg, Aaron Mokgehle as the rightfull Mayor of Lephalale, some ANC Cllrs with the help of two opposition parties [ATM and Lephalale Residents Association] defied the ANC mandate and elected Cllr Loisa Bopape as the New Mayor of Lephalale and today she was formally inagurated against the wishes of the ANC in Limpopo.

The Roque Cllrs moved further to invoke some section in the Municipal structures act that speaks on how Council and portfolio meetings should be held. Some 3 cllrs of ANC had allegedly missed some portfolio Committee meetings without apologies and according to them, this constitute a bridge of the code of conducted and they decided to expell them as cllrs.

The affected cllrs are the Chiefwhip of the Majority party and Council Whip, Cde Joseph Machaba, the Regional Deputy Secretary of the ANC and EXCO member in the council, Cde Aaron Mokgehle, and the ward cllr of Ward 14 known as Cde Noah.

If the decision was to be implemented by the Municipal Manager, it will mean, that bi-elections will be held in Lephalale and the ANC will also be forced to fill 2 PR vacancies.

The Situation in Lephalale is continuation of the ANC ‘s inability to act against Roque elements which continue to undermine the authority of the organization and if not capped, it will spiral into other ANC led Municipalities as it has already happened in Mangaung Metro in the Free State.