‘Mayor must stay’
If there is one mayor who must remain in his post, it is Freddy Greaver.
POLOKWANE – If there is one mayor who must remain in his post, it is Freddy Greaver.
Independent political analyst, Elvis Masoga had no hesitation in making this statement earlier this week, at the same time congratulating the ANC for recalling Capricorn mayor Lawrence Mapoulo, and Mopani mayor Joshua Matlou on Monday.
His advice to the ANC was not to commit the terrible blunder of recalling Greaver, because he had done and was doing an excellent job as mayor of Polokwane.
Regarding Mapoulo and Matlou, Masoga said he approved of the recall, as there were service delivery problems in their municipal areas.
Two other mayors, Elias Motsoaledi mayor Wendy Matemane, and Greater Tubatse mayor Nkosi Mahlake were also recalled.
Following this action by the ANC in Limpopo, speculation was rife over who will be the next to go.
Some people reason that, should history repeat itself, Greaver will be one of those to go. This reasoning is based on the history of the Capricorn and Polokwane mayorships. When former Capricorn mayor De Wet Monakedi was recalled, former Polokwane mayor Thabo Makunyane followed quickly.
Asked for comment yesterday (Wednesday) on whether Greaver would go, ANC provincial secretary, Nocks Seabi would only say “the rumours can be treated as rumours, as the mayor of Polokwane is still the mayor of Polokwane”.
Seabi confirmed that the the heads of more mayors and other municipal officials could roll, as the ANC was in the process of studying reports and was busy with a continuous assessment of local government structures.
Seabi said the recalling of the mayors followed an evaluation by the ANC of the strengths and weaknesses of municipalities in the province. “We want to strengthen our performance in municipalities for better service delivery,” he said.
Also recalled were several municipal speakers, deputy speakers and chief whips, among them the Polokwane Municipality’s chief whip, Ouma Mashiane.
Seabi said the replacements of the recalled people would be announced by Monday.
