The Democratic Alliance in Madibeng was successful with its motion of no confidence brought against the Mayor, Cllr Jostina Mothibe.
The DA, and two other parties submitted motions of no confidence to the Speaker, Kabelo Ntshabele, last year, but after several delaying tactics and continuous pressure from the DA, the motion was eventually tabled and argued during a Special Council Meeting which was held on Friday, 9 April 2021.
The motion of no confidence tabled by the DA was supported by two additional motions tabled by other parties.
The motion was brought on several points, most notably the Mayor’s lack of leadership which led to a collapse in service delivery in Madibeng as well as the fact that Madibeng has failed to obtain clean audit reports from the Auditor-General for a number of years.
Corruption was rife under former Mayor Mothibe’s leadership and it seemed that she had no will or inclination to root out corruption.
After long debates, it was decided that voting will take place by secret ballot. Interestingly, a number of ANC Councillors openly defied their caucus leadership by voicing their concerns for voting by show of hands, citing that several of them have received threats of bodily harm. This clearly showed a division amongst the ranks of the ANC. A number of ANC Councillors, amongst them former Mayor Mothibe as well as several prominent leaders, walked out of the Council chambers before the vote.
An overwhelming majority of 50 Councillors against 2 voted for the motion to remove Mayor Mothibe.
The DA nominated Councillor Nkateka Mabunda as its mayoral candidate while the ANC nominated Councillor Joseph Ratloi as theirs.
In a vote of 24 against 16, Councillor Ratloi was voted in as Madibeng’s new mayor, with all EFF Councillors abstaining from voting.
The DA in Madibeng will carefully monitor Mayor Ratloi’s performance, progress and work ethic and if he fails to deliver on the expectation of the residents of Madibeng, the DA will not hesitate to bring a similar motion of no-confidence in him as well.
While a change in Mayor may signal the start of turning governance around and improving service delivery in Madibeng, the ANC can never deliver. Later this year, residents in Madibeng will have an opportunity to vote out the corrupt ANC from government and vote in a DA-led government that will immediately begin to fix what the ANC has broken and deliver quality basic services to all.