A mayor shuffle

The matter is now official. The African National Congress (ANC) in Limpopo has recalled the mayor of Makhado Local Municipality, Samuel Munyai, the Vhembe District Municipality’s executive mayor, Dowelani Nenguda, and the executive mayor of Sekhukhune District, Maleke Mokganyetji. The decision was made on Monday during the meeting of the provincial executive committee (PEC), held at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.

Munyai is to be replaced by the current Speaker of Makhado Municipality, Dorcus Mboyi, while Nenguda is to be replaced by the Speaker of VDM, Freddah Nkondo. Mokganyetji will be replaced by Minah Bahula.

The ANC said that the three removed mayors would be given certain responsibilities as employees of the party.

The provincial secretary of the ANC, Vhamusanda Reuben Madadzhe, said that, in accordance with the decision of the PEC to restructure the municipalities, the mayors were changed. Madadzhe said that the ANC was confident that these mayoral candidates were among the best in their ranks and that they possessed substantial experience in local government and had the ability to advance their mission of delivering essential services to the people.

An EFF councillor in Makhado Municipality, Wiseman Ramalwa, said that they were unmoved by the vengeful replacement of the mayor of Makhado Local Municipality. “We are well aware of its timing, which comes during the CFO saga. The mayor is simply being sacrificed by his own comrades for voting with the EFF and in favour of the acting CFO, Mr Godfrey Raliphada. We have survived six years of poor service delivery and inadequate political representation in Cllr Munyai and expect more, or else the same, if not worse, from the incoming. Our narrative of the situation sees the ANC as the main cause of the problem and as such, changing mayors of the same problematic ANC does not prepare us for any good thing ahead. The car is not in good shape, and we are afraid that changing the driver does not make it better. If she doesn’t kill it, it will definitely kill her,” said Ramalwa.

A Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor in Makhado, Glenda Furumela, said the DA fully supported the new mayor and wished Mboyi good luck in her new position.

The secretary of SAMWU in the Makhado Municipality, Mr Tsanwani Raduvha, said his organisation welcomed the change. He said that the former mayor might have worked, but he needed assistance. “We believe in Mboyi. We know we will be able to reach the municipality’s objectives and deal with service-delivery challenges. We are still going to engage with her,” he said.

Date:10 November 2023

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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