Following a week of turmoil and infighting, the Vhembe District Municipality finally re-elected Cllr Dowelani Nenguda as executive mayor during the inaugural council meeting on 2 December. This after last week's planned inaugural meeting on 25 November ended in chaos and had to be dissolved until further notice.
Cllr Fridah Nkondo was elected as the new Speaker, with Cllr Rudzani Ludere being elected the Chief Whip. Cllr Muhloti Muhlophe was elected as the chairperson of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC).
In his acceptance speech, Nenguda identified several key priorities to be dealt with in his next hundred days in office. This, among other activities, is to prioritize the filling of critical service delivery posts within the budgetary and cash flow constraints. He said he will also meet with traditional leaders including other key stakeholders in the district and will continue to hand over water infrastructure to the needy communities.
Nenguda further said that he will continue to support local economic development activities in order to fight against poverty and unemployment in the district and also highlighted that he will continue to partner with the University of Venda and Vhembe TVET College with the aim of developing common programs to empower the youth with various skills. He also stated that members of the mayoral committee will be appointed very soon.
Thursday's Council meeting went ahead in spite of court action by a faction from within the African National Congress. On Wednesday, Maemu Fistos Mafela filed papers in the Limpopo High Court's Thohoyandou division, asking that an interdict be granted to stop the election process at the VDM. Mafela is currently the ANC's Chief Whip in the Musina Municipality.
In his application Mafela complains that the processes followed to forward the names of the candidates to be elected for the top positions in the VDM, were not respected. The three candidates whose names were forwarded following a scrutineering process, were Ethel Mihloti Muhlophe, Selinah Thiwananga Mbedzi and Fridah Tsakani Nkondo. Muhlophe was earmarked to become VDM's new mayor.
Mafela mentions in his affidavit that the ANC's National Executive Committee (NEC) had "reservations regarding the appointment of any of the three candidates". The ANC's top structure thus issued an instruction that Nenguda must be appointed as mayor while an investigation continues.
"The unilateral word that Mr Nenguda must be elected as the mayor is nothing less than a coup d'état. It is an illegal means to bypass political process in order to usurp the mayorship of Vhembe District Municipality," said Mafela.
The matter served before Judge Khami Makhafola. He ruled that the matter was not urgent and it was struck from the roll.