North West Premier Bushy Maape. Picture: GCIS
Pretoria - The ANC’s control of major municipalities in the North West is set to come under threat as more political parties are contesting to control the Ditsobotla Local Municipality, which was dissolved due to factional battles within the ruling party.
The municipality was besieged by infighting and the election of two mayors, municipal managers and rivalries among officials.
This gave Premier Bushy Maape no option but to dissolve the council. During the by-elections on Wednesday, the ANC, who won 52% of the vote in November last year, will now contest with the DA, PAC, EFF, Forum 4 Service Delivery and a number of independent candidates.
The DA, this week, sent its top guns to Lichtenburg, outside Mahikeng, to campaign. DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille campaigned on Tuesday, where she addressed various community meetings and talks with business leaders.
Yesterday, DA leader John Steenhuisen came to consolidate his party’s support in the area by canvassing for votes across communities of the town. In one of his addresses, Steenhuisen said the DA was in Lichtenburg to kick the ANC out and usher in a DA government to begin the work of rebuilding this once vibrant town.
“In the 2021 local government elections, the ANC only won 52% of the vote in Ditsobotla, winning by a very slim majority. We can break the ANC’s majority in Ditsobotla and usher in a coalition of real change and delivery.
“After almost three decades of corruption and neglect under the ANC, Ditsobotla is now a broken municipality. The local agricultural sector and small businesses are suffering under the weight of service delivery collapse and poor infrastructure maintenance ...” he said.
Steenhuisen said poor management of the municipality had allegedly led to disinvestment and a rapid economic slump which had plunged residents into unemployment, despair and misery.
“Where the DA governs in local municipalities across South Africa ... we are delivering for residents and getting things done. “In Umgeni, we settled the ANC’s legacy of municipal debt within our first year of office, and rapidly expanded access to basic services while aggressively repairing public infrastructure.
“Midvaal and Kouga are the best-run municipalities in their respective provinces, where residents enjoy some of the highest access to basic services in South Africa, which sustain growing local economies and create much-needed jobs,” Steenhuisen said.
Pretoria News