By OBAKENG MAJE
26 January 2025- The North West High Court of South Africa sitting in Mahikeng heard an urgent application by ousted Ditsobotla Local Municipality mayor, Thabo Nkashe, who was removed through the motion of no confidence during the council sitting held on 17 January 2025.
The applicant sought a relief from the court to be reinstated as the mayor, as well as suspending the decisions of council sitting, which unanimously voted him out of office by majority of councillors following the motion of no confidence due to gross incompetence.
North West High Court Judge Reid found that the applicant failed to persuade the court to reinstate him as mayor thus duly ordered that application be struck off the roll due to lack of urgency with costs of the application to be paid by the applicant is his personal capacity.
Ditsobotla Local Municipality mayor, Mazwi Moruri said: “Key to the facts, the court found that the applicant never took the oath of office before the juristic officer of the court for a period of 18 months and of which is a legal requirement.
“We welcome the outcome of the court and called for a united action to best attempt to salvage what is left of the municipality henceforth. We want to spark a new sense of positivity.”
Moruri further said, a few days ago, they have attracted the North West Provincial Government’s attention in a positive way which resulted in the visit of the North West Premier, Lazarus Mokgosi and North West MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA), Gaoage Molapisi on 21 January 2025.
He added that, they declared the support of the provincial government to assist in every effort to resuscitate the municipality to at least provide continual services such as water, electricity, refuse collection amongst others to the people.
“We convey the truth that it is possible to serve the people of Ditsobotla. It all starts with resetting the minds and attitude of employees towards serving the people.
“It would be very difficult to encourage a sense of positivity in the residents if the people who are supposed to serve them with devotion are not in good shape,” said Moruri.
He said the situation facing the municipality is revertable, despite daunting challenges and or problems. Moruri said they call on the stakeholders to join hands and make Ditsobotla Local Municipality work for its people.
Meanwhile, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the North West said it has noted with a grave concern
the persistent political instability and poor service delivery in Ditsobotla Local Municipality. The party said since the municipal by-elections in 2022 to date, the councillors at Ditsobotla Local Municipality voted out both the speaker for municipal council and the municipal mayor for the third time, respectively.
The EFF provincial spokesperson, Fanon Moema said: “It follows inevitably, therefore, that the quality of life amongst most residents has not improved in the past years. The frustration of the residents concerned with lack of access to basic services such as water and electricity is picking up, and it manifests itself through service delivery protests.
“Reports on rampant corruption, maladministration and nepotism are proof enough that the municipality is faced with a critical leadership chaos and credibility crisis.”
Moema said it clearly appears that better life in Ditsobotla is exclusively enjoyed by the families,
friends, officials and staunch political allies of those who are tasked with allocating the scarce resources of the people. He said Mokgosi and Molapisi promised to speed up service delivery and uphold good governance for, among others, residents of Ditsobotla.
“However, it appears that the situation has moved from bad to worse with the provincial government failing to rescue the situation and there is nothing to prove or
corroborate the veracity of the promises.
“As the EFF, we are calling for the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Pemmy Majodina, Minister of COGTA, Velenkosini Hlabisa, Mokgosi and Molapisi to intervene to the service delivery crisis in Ditsobotla within the next seven days. Failure to respond, we will prepare the ground and wage a tireless fight on the ground,” said Moema.
The Guardian 