Mangaung Mayor survives motion of no confidence

Politics /12 May 2022, 19:46pm/ Thabiso Ndobo

The Executive Mayor of Mangaung Metro Municipality, Mxolisi Siyonzana:image supplied

Bloemfontein: The Executive Mayor of Mangaung Metro Municipality, Mxolisi Siyonzana, has survived the first motion of no confidence against his leadership. The Mangaung Metro council met on Thursday, 12 May 2022, where all members of the council were present.

Thursday marked the first attempt to unseat the executive mayor, just less than six months after he was elected.

However the motion was defeated by 54 council members who voted against, whereas 44 voted for the motion.

The African National Congress said, the party stood firm in the caucus and they are happy that the caucus didn’t compromise party’s principles and all councillors were united against the three motions of no confidence proposed by opposition parties.

“This was a demonstration that the ANC in Mangaung is united against all distractors who see the caucus of the party as a fragmented unit. It is very clear that a lot can be achieved by the caucus of Mangaung and we are going to use this unity to make sure that the people receive service delivery, and we strengthen all the loop holes in terms of cooperative governance in the institution.” Said ANC IPC Spokesperson, Oupa Khoabane

The three motions of no confidence against the embattled Mangaung Metro Municipality Executive Mayor were brought forward by the three opposition parties, the Afrikan Alliance of Social Democrats (AASD), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Democratic Alliance.

The AASD said, “The vote of no confidence against Siyonzana is a step aimed at ensuring that Mangaung Metro Municipality realizes its potential, through holding those in Executive accountable to Mangaung Metro residents”

According to Baba Sebolao, EFF caucus leader, even though the ruling party defeated the motion, red berets still of the opinion that it is about time that these motions be instated.

“In the midst of the metro’s financial crisis, with the non-payment of creditors, court cases, money being owed to Bloem Water and the enormous salary bills of the metro, Siyonzana apparently still gave instructions for the political staff to be appointed.”

DA caucus leader Johan Pretorius, said the party will continue to hold Siyonzana responsible for everything that has gone wrong since his appointment as executive mayor in August 2021.

Mangaung Metro was placed under administration in early April. The municipality experienced significant financial and service delivery failures for a very long time. This followed it’s failure to implement the financial recovery plan after it was placed under mandatory intervention in December 2019.

The Metro has failed more than two years to implement the financial recovery plan, it has now been placed under national intervention.

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