The ANC is considering legal action following a turbulent Maluti-a-Phofung council meeting that saw mayor Malekula Melato ousted amid claims of a flawed process and a leaked EFF recording. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
The provincial secretary of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the Free State, Malefane Msimanga, has accused some of the party’s leaders of Municipality of Maluti-a-Phofung councilors of “spying” for the ANC after a recording emerged following a meeting where the party made plans to fire mayor Malekula Melato.
The Post and guardian understands that the recording was made on Wednesday by one of the people who were at the meeting and sent to senior ANC members in the Thabo Mofutsanyane region.
In a voice note obtained by the M&GMsimanga instructs EFF councilors on how to vote in the no-confidence motion and discusses positions the party will take before supporting Melato’s removal.
“Nobody should be sick tomorrow. Even if you’re throwing up or have a runny stomach, you might as well do it in front of us. Wear a diaper if you have to, then you can leave. We want this thing,” Msimanga told councilors.
He emphasizes the need to carefully monitor the votes. “As much as we want this, we don’t want to be accused that so-and-so sold us out. We’re going to organize pens and everyone will be a different color so that even if we get defeated, we can’t claim that someone didn’t vote.”
Msimanga says the party’s secretary general ordered Melato to leave: “The media will be there and give the impression that there are people who will vote with Malekula. We want Malekula to leave,” Msimanga says.
“This time we are not going to support people for nothing. If they get half, we also want our half. If they appoint an employee, we also want one. We cannot support and come back empty-handed.”
Msimanga also says: “Dieta dia sotheha [we are poor]”.
On Thursday, Melato was dropped off in a chaotic movement of distrustwith chairs and tables thrown around and the ANC walking away from the council meeting. Councilor Paratlane Motloung of the MAP16 Citizen Movement was elected as the new mayor.
In the ballot letter, Msimanga says he is aware that some EFF councilors have met Motloung to discuss the takeover of the municipality.
A female councilor replied: “We discussed how we are going to have three MMCs and each MMC will have a secretary.”
Msimanga then asks who will take over as mayor according to the deal. The councilor answers that it will be MAP16.
The recording also captures discussion on collaboration with other parties, including MAP16, the Freedom Front Plus, Sarko, the African Transformation Movement, the African Content Movement and the Democratic Alliance.
The voice note shows that some councilors expected 33 votes in favor of Melato’s ouster, while 31 ANC councilors were reportedly opposed. Those speaking on the ballot say the Democratic Alliance will abstain, which became the case at Thursday’s council meeting.
In the recording, those present say they will have 33 votes while the ANC will have 31 and eight ANC members ignore instructions to vote for Melato.
The female councilor says she wants to be part of the troika. “The support we gave MAP16 in 2021 did not help us. It hurt us, so this time we must share those views.”
Msimanga says if MAP16 wants the mayoral position, it must understand that the positions will be equally divided. “The fact that fighters are poor is very painful and I ask that we do not form a faction. Let us ensure that we try to accommodate as many fighters as possible.”
He also demands that a meeting be held with those they plan to remove Melato before the council meeting begins.
“We need to know what’s going to happen before we vote to avoid conflict. We need to know what we’re getting before people are placed. So before we vote, we want to meet with all of them around 8 a.m.”
Speaking with the M&GMsimanga acknowledged it was his voice in the recording and said he was aware of the ballot paper because it was sent to him by an ANC member.
He said the party would investigate who recorded the meeting and discipline them because it was clear there were ANC spies in their party.
Governance was about participation, Msimanga said, and serving people required resources. He added that EFF members had done organizational work without funding, to the extent that it affected the organisation’s performance.
He added that the party participated in the government and that it had the right to challenge positions of power.
“I don’t know how controversial it is to say that we are now participating in government. It is a well-known fact that we are contesting state power and that we can depose an ANC mayor and install our own mayor.”
ANC insiders said the party was likely to challenge Melato’s removal in court, citing what they described as a flawed process in appointing the new mayor. ANC councilors, including the chairman, left the meeting in an apparent attempt to break the quorum and prevent the council from voting on the motion.
A councilor from the municipality said this M&G Police were called to the council on Thursday to prevent disruptions after people entered and tried to disrupt proceedings to stop the vote.
“There are seventy council members,” says the source. “When the ANC left, 36 remained, which means we still had a quorum. By law, we were allowed to elect an acting speaker from among ourselves because the speaker had left with the ANC councilors. “We elected an acting speaker and the meeting continued. The majority supported the motion to dismiss the mayor and then a new mayor was elected.”
An ANC source told the newspaper M&G that they would probably take the case to court. “There were 36 inside and we were outside. If there are 36, they make the quorum because the quorum is 35. They then appointed a speaker because we were outside with our speaker.
“The law says that when you appoint the chairman or the executive mayor, it is the municipal manager who is chairman. It cannot be a councilor who chairs another councilor. When they started the process to appoint the mayor, five DA councilors left, meaning the mayor was appointed without a quorum.”
Dianne Kypri
mg.co.za
