Mogale City finds itself in a unique position: The City is under the DA-led coalition but the Speaker, Chief Whip and Acting Municipal Manager’s positions are filled by ANC members. There is no other municipality in the country that finds itself in such a position.
Managing a coalition is a mission on its own. It’s even worse that the new kids on the block, the EFF, are the kingmaker but have chosen not to be part of the coalition. That means the governing parties serve at the pleasure of the EFF. Should the reds decide to pledge their support to the opposition, the DA-led coalition will collapse.
As if that is not enough, to have the Speaker, Chief Whip and Municipal Manager’s positions filled by an opposition party is a nightmare. Naturally, this is likely to cause power struggles between the ruling parties and opposition. Quality time will be spent in the power struggle rather than in delivering the much-needed services to the citizens.
Last Friday, Media24 reported about the fight in Mogale City over the Acting Municipal Manager’s position. The occupant of this position is an ANC member who has been removed from office (with the intervention of the MEC) and replaced by the former Municipal Manager, who is also an ANC member.
The above situation should arouse the interest of political pundits and media practitioners. It should be of interest to them how the city is being managed under the circumstances. Interestingly, the opposite is true.
The mainstream media seem to have no interest whatsoever in what’s happening in Mogale City. Interestingly, we have media practitioners and managers residing in the city. They too don’t seem to have an interest in what’s happening in the City. Is there a particular reason for this? I wonder.
Last week, I raised the above issue on Facebook. Many, including Mogale City residents, seemed surprised by my concern. They were saying “What are you on about?” One friend on Facebook even responded sarcastically, by asking the following questions: “Where is Mogale City?” and “Who is the mayor there?”
The above has led me to the conclusion that Mogale City (in fact, the West Rand region in its entirety) is not seen as a strategic area by the media. So that being the case, there is no need to pay attention to it. I hope my assessment is wrong.
