The announcement made by Makana Mayor Pumelelo Kate that he intends to resign from his post has been met with negative reactions from opposition parties saying the move will disrupt the delivery of municipal services
Democratic Alliance (DA) chairperson Jock McConnachie said Kate did not jump ship out of his own will but was forced to do so by the ANC.
The announcement made by Makana Mayor Pumelelo Kate that he intends to resign from his post has been met with negative reactions from opposition parties saying the move will disrupt the delivery of municipal services
Democratic Alliance (DA) chairperson Jock McConnachie said Kate did not jump ship out of his own will but was forced to do so by the ANC.
"He is being redeployed," he said.He added that the grounds which the ANC councillors gave as reasons for proposing a vote of no confidence against Kate were "damning not only for himself but for the entire ANC-led administration".
He also said that for a very long time the DA has been saying that this is a malfunctioning municipality.
"The ANC is collectively at fault, how can things be allowed to reach this point? McConnachie asked.
He said that the DA would have preferred Kate to stay on as mayor despite his shortcomings as keeping him would be "less disruptive".
However, he dismissed the charges of lack of leadership and ability to deliver services which were contained in the motion of no confidence against Kate and suggested that the real reasons Kate is ousted is because of his alleged sympathies to Congress of the People (Cope).
Dumi Zono, Cope spokesperson in the Cacadu region, said it was a sad day for the Makana community and that he is concerned about the programmes that Kate had started. "When two elephants fight the grass suffers, in this case service delivery is the loser," he said.
He insisted that Kate had an executive mayoral committee which is made up of five permanent councillors who should leave with Kate if he is removed from office.
"The ANC has failed the people of Makana," he said before suggesting that the ANC has a legacy of getting rid of mayors before their terms of office are over.
When contacted yesterday, Kate refused to say whether he has resigned or not on the grounds that this matter was being finalised by the ruling party’s provincial leadership. "I’m expecting to hear from them in the course of this week,"he said.
However, he said that the provincial leadership had given themselves 14 days in which to conclude the matter. He refused to say what issues are at stake.
Attempts to obtain comment from the ruling party drew a blank as regional deputy chairperson Lungile Mxube referred enquiries to the Minister of rural development and land reform Gugile Nkwinti, who is also the party’s regional chairperson. Nkwinti could not be reached at the time of going to print.
