Siyonzana re-elected as Mangaung mayor

Free State /22 November 2021, 13:08pm / TI Reporter

Newly elected Mangaung Metro Mayor, Mxolisi Siyonzana: image supplied 

Bloemfontein: The former mayor of the Mangaung Metro, Mxolisi Siyonzana, has been re-elected as the mayor of the metro.

Siyonzana received 56 votes, the DA candidate Johan Pretorius received 29 whilst the Afrikan Alliance of Social Democrats’ (AASD) Papi Mokoena only received 15 votes.

This means that five councillors from other political parties voted with the ANC to elect Siyonzana as the mayor. Meanwhile, the ANC’s speaker candidate, Stephani Lockman, was also elected as the new speaker of the metro.

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Lockman received 54 votes, edging her rival, the DA’s David Masoeu, who received 30 votes with two votes spoiled. In total, 84 votes were cast by various councillors, with 51 of the ANC who voted for Lockman, which means 3 other councillors also voted with the ANC.

The ruling ANC retained the metro with a margin of 50,63% and this gave them 51 seats in the council.

Siyonzana was nominated by the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC). This follows the taunting of ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) Mapaseka Mothibi-Nkoane’s name as the preferred candidate for the mayoral position. But her name was seemingly rejected by the NEC who instead opted for Siyonzana.

Meanwhile, the ANC’s Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) in the Free State has denied nationalism claims in the Mangaung Metro.

IPC spokesperson, Oupa Khoabane, told The Insider reporter that the party is ready and will speak in one voice for the election of the mayor.

This, after sources within the party suggested that a battle between two opposing factions, aligned to ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and suspended ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule, was expected to play itself out at the troubled Bloemfontein-based Mangaung Metro.