Makana Municipality has no Mayor following Nomhle Gaga's resignation yesterday (8 September).
Makana Municipality has no Mayor following Nomhle Gaga's resignation yesterday (8 September).
In a move challenged by the DA, Gaga was announced as the new Mayor on 28 August. This week, the Mayoral Committee – Council's Exco – was dissolved.
According to ANC Sarah Baartman regional secretary Scara Njadayi, its members, along with Gaga, all remain ordinary councillors until the process of appointing a new mayor is finalised on Friday 11 September*.
The DA last week made an urgent court application to have Gaga's appointment set aside.
In a statement released last Wednesday the DA said it believed that if a secret ballot had been allowed, there was a good chance some ANC councillors would have voted for a DA mayor.
Yesterday Gaga publicly admitted that the rules had been flouted when she was elected Mayor at the special council meeting on 28 August. Gaga was speaking during a special sitting of the National Council Of Provinces (NCOP) in the Grahamstown City Hall.
In the meeting yesterday, Gaga admitted to the members of the NCOP that there had been irregularities during her appointment to the position. She said, however, that she remained Mayor until she resigned.
Today, DA Makana caucus leader Les Reynolds told Grocott's Mail that Gaga had resigned. This followed yesterday's meeting with NCOP.
Reynolds said the municipality had admitted it was in the wrong and had since sought to adhere to the court order instructing them to rectify the error.
Reynolds said the process of electing a Mayor will be repeated in a council meeting on Friday 11 September.
In last week's statement, Reynolds said former ANC Speaker Rachel Madinda-Isaac had ignored advice from acting municipal manager Riana Meiring, DA councillors Brian Fargher and Brian Jackson, and him against voting by a show of hands.
Reynolds said they'd all told her it was against the law.
"On Friday August 28, [Madinda-Isaac] ran roughshod over the Municipal Structures Act, allowing the ANC councillors to appoint their candidate as Mayor by a show of hands," the DA statement said.
In court papers, the DA accused the ANC caucus of being too hasty in making the appointment and, as a result, not following the correct procedure. They argue that the manner in which Gaga was appointed was undemocratic.
Makana Municipality is listed as the first respondent, Meiring as second respondent, Madinda-Isaac as third respondent, Gaga as fourth respondent and administrator Jongisizwe Gomomo as the fifth respondent.
Meanwhile, Njadayi said they did not want to waste money by taking the matter to court. He said the process would be redone on Friday.
"We are going to prove to the opposition [DA] that we are not scared. We don't have a problem with a secret ballot. We are going to win the secret ballot and councillor Gaga is going to be the mayor," he said.
*Correction made: the meeting will be on 11 September, not 11 August.
anele@grocotts.co.za
