Sparks fly as ANC plots against MEC orders

This stems from previous Mogalakwena mayor, Ester Mothibi and her allies’ insistence on reinstating suspended corporate services manager Henry Thobejane and paying his full salary despite his suspension and the guilty verdicts against him.
At a special council meeting on Tuesday, the ANC delayed the process of implementing the sanctions against themselves to pay back more than R1-million to the Mogalakwena Local Municipality.
This was one of the recommendations that stemmed from a forensic investigation by KPMG. The MEC instructed that these recommendations be implemented, but on Tuesday the ANC decided to change the actions to; ‘just noting the KPMG Report and refering it to the executive committee to establish a ad-hoc committee to investigate the report and make recomendations to Council.’
Councillor Beyers Smit of the DA asked for a division of council as the DA stood by the original recomendations and all 11 opposition Councillors noted their names in favour of the original recomendations and all ANC councillors responsible for repaying the ‘unauthorised and wasteful expenses’ noted their names to the motion to refer the matter.
“This is a strategy by the ANC to delay the process to recover the cost from themselves. How can you be a referee and player at the same time?
"As all ANC councillors are implicated in this issue, now they want to determine their own fate? What is the logic in that? In fact the ANC is in a catch 22 situation and is desperate to try and get out of it,” Smit commented after the meeting.
Besides the repayment of Thobejane’s salaries the KPMG report also recommends ‘appropriate action’ be taken against the preivious mayor [Mothibi] for failing to follow proper process in the appointment of Maningo Security Services.
Mothibi, now just a councillor, however remains defiant. She even threatened DA Councillor, Marcelle Maritz, when Maritz questioned her on the money her decisions cost the municipality.
Maritz said she takes such threats seriously and reported it to the police as the council’s speaker has already had her house petrol bombed in the week Mothibi was sacked as mayor.