ANC Limpopo: No confidence motion passed against council speaker and Mayor

The ANC in Limpopo has reclaimed the control of Thabazimbi local municipality in the Waterberg region.

This comes after the party successfully passed a motion of no confidence against the council speaker, Ben Tlhabadira and Mayor, Tokkie Swanepoel on Friday. 

Thlabadira is a councillor for the Thabazimbi Forum for Service Delivery (TFSD) while Swanepoel is a councillor for the Democratic Alliance (DA). They have been running the municipality as political heads since their election after the November municipal polls last year. 

Newly elected leaders

After the motion was successfully passed, councillors elected Juddy Mogapi as the new mayor and Tshego Ramoabi as new council speaker. The two are ANC councillors. 

The municipality is currently run by a coalition of six different political parties. 

Seats in the municipality

These are the ANC with 11 seats, DA with 4 seats, Thabazimbi Residents Association (TRC) with 3 seats, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with 2 seats, Freedom Front Plus (FF-Plus) with 2 seats and the Thabazimbi Forum for Service Delivery (TFSD) with 1 seat.  This makes 23, the total number of seats in the council. 

New Mayor faced with many challenges

Among many other challenges, the new mayor will have a mammoth task to bring peace, stability and tranguility in the politically torn council. 

The council has been marred by allegations of divisions, which affected the rate of service delivery. It has also been affected by acute shortages of water provision, failure to collect litter, failure to hold council and committee meetings and protracted factional battles. 

The Citizen panned an article last week wherein councillors complained that the former speaker and mayor had failed to hold contact council meetings since May, owing it to political infightings. 

ALSO READ: Thabazimbi municipality: Limpopo ANC Mayor, speaker ‘instigators’ of infighting

Speaking to The Citizen on Sunday, Mogapi (New Mayor) said she was up to the task. 

“The time for women to lead has ripped and maybe this is the time to prove to those” Doubting Thomasses” that women can do it,” said the jubilant Mogapi on Sunday. 

She said with the experience and hardworking team behind me, nothing will be impossible. 

“I am sure this municipality is going somewhere. I am going to work to my best ability to ensure that this town is clean, there is clean running water everywhere, council meetings are held in council, projects are completed in time and council money is spent with precision and distinction, precisely for the development of our communities” said Mogapi. 

The future looks ‘bright’

ANC Waterberg regional spokesperson, Seraka Mapeka said the future looks green in Thabazimbi. 

“We want to acknowledge that it’s  going to be a daunting task for  the new mayor to turn things around in that municipality, given the mess that was created by the DA-led coalition,” said Mapeka

 “But equally, we believe that we have deployed a mayor who knows her story inside out and who is equal to the task. We will walk side by side with her as the African National Congress in an endeavor to deliver a five star services to our people,” Mapeka told The Citizen.