Sparks fly at Mogalakwena municipality

Right across the road from the Mogalakwena municipal buildings, raw sewage have been boiling onto the side walks of Ruiter and Retief streets for weeks while the local lea-dership is entangled in a political battle for the head of the municipal manager (MM), William Kekana.
On Monday the Gauteng North High Court ordered that the status quo of Kekana as MM be maintained until it rules on the case between himself and the local council. But when he arrived for work on Tuesday, he was locked out and a guard was posted to keep him out of his office. This followed a special council meeting on 12 July where Mogalakwena Mayor, Tlhalefi Mashemaite, presented a report from the executive committee regarding a ‘settlement’ with Kekana.
At this meeting the opposition cited that no report was attached 24-hours in advance as required by the standing rules and orders as well as the Municipal Systems Act of 2000. A motion was brought and seconded that the meeting should be adjourned until due process was followed.
Even the speaker, Melba Mabusela, indicated that she was not consulted about the emergency report as required by the standing rules and orders of the council.
After a short adjournment, council was told that Mabusela had to ‘unexpectedly’ leave the council chamber and an acting speaker was elected. This time the motion by opposing councillors was ignored and the Mayor was allowed to present the report verbally, without any written copy being presented to council.
Opposition parties registered their votes against the continuation of the illegal meeting and walked out.
But neither this, nor four consecutive court orders against councillors not to discuss the terms of the contract of the municipal manager (a court case between him and the council is still sub judice) stopped ANC councillors from cancelling Kekana’s contract.
This week, however, Mashemaite refused to comment on the matter, saying his legal advisors advised him not to talk about Kekana’s position as it may interfere with the legal process and weaken the ANC’s case.
Northern News first approached the municipality for clarity on these allegations at the beginning of this month when the executive committee was said to have instructed municipal heads of departments to halt the issuing of tenders until the municipal manager, William Kekana, “has been made to exit.”
The only DA councillor on the executive committee (Exco), Beyers Smit, was not invited to the Exco-meeting where this order was issued. He later confronted the Mayor with allegations that department heads were told that in future, “they should take cue from the ANC.”
“The mayor did not deny this,” Smit told Northern News.
The provincial DA leadership responded with a press statement saying government duties and its provision of services cannot be jeopardised because ruling party members in the municipality want tenders to enrich themselves. “There must be a clear distinction between government and the ANC. Muni-cipal officials are accountable to that sphere of government and not to the ANC. Their job descriptions are defined by the applicable laws as opposed to party’s instructions,” the DA said.
Two weeks ago the municipal communications department responded to Northern News’ queries on this matter saying it is still gathering facts and will give response in due course. This week municipal spokesperson, Malesela Selokela referred Northern News to the Mayor who would not comment on the fact that the municipality was ignoring a court order to reinstate Kekana in his position and said he was also not at liberty to discuss the ANC councillors’ grievances against Kekana.
To date Northern News has not been able to establish why the ANC so desperately wants to get rid of Kekana. Mashemaite promised to shed more light on the matter at a later stage
Kekana could not be reached for comment.