Maphetle still Tlokwe mayor, says ANC

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Johannesburg - Maphetle Maphetle remains the mayor of Tlokwe municipality in the North West, even though he was unseated in a meeting last week, the ANC said on Thursday.

?The position of the ANC is that comrade Maphetle remains the mayor of Tlokwe municipality. We don't recognise any decision take by illegal gatherings to remove him as a mayor,? African National Congress spokesman Ishmael Mnisi said.

Mnisi said only the speaker Barei Segotso and the mayor, under certain circumstances, could call a council meeting.

He said the speaker had called a meeting, but it was cancelled because the other councillors were at the ANC office for a disciplinary hearing.

?Members of the DA, together with these rebels from the ANC, took an opportunity and convened themselves and decided to depose the mayor.?

The mayor, speaker and the ANC chief whip were not party to the meeting, said Mnisi.

?That is the reason we are saying it is an illegal meeting. It is not called according to the laws of the management of council meetings.?

On July 2, Democratic Alliance councillor Annette Combrink was voted in as the new mayor, for the second time since November, unseating Maphetle.

The ANC had already made an application to the High Court in Pretoria for it to declare the meeting in which Maphetle was deposed ?illegal?, said Mnisi. No court date had been set yet.

On July 3, the North West ANC's provincial disciplinary committee expelled from the party 14 of its councillors who voted to unseat Maphetle.

On Thursday, the ANC introduced the six new councillors it had appointed to replace those involved in unseating Maphetle. The other eight positions would be filled through by-elections.

The DA held a walkabout in Tlokwe on Thursday, and spoke to people about the party. DA spokesman Mmusi Maimane said the party recognised the outcome of the meeting which deposed Maphetle.

?The meeting was completely legitimate and the decisions taken there are binding,? he said.

Maimane said there was a quorum at the meeting. A quorum is the number of members who must be present to validate the decisions made at a meeting.

The DA had indicated it would appeal a court decision which nullified the meeting's outcome, he said.

Maimane said the ANC's conduct in the Tlokwe municipality was an indicator that it had no clear plan on how to deal with corrupt people.

The ANC held a similar walkabout on Monday. - Sapa

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/maphetle-still-tlokwe-mayor-says-anc-1.1545586

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