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The ANC has been trying to wrest Thabazimbi from a DA-led coalition since September 2023, but has been defeated in court every time.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo has finally registered another emphatic victory against the ANC in their fight for the control of the Thabazimbi Local Municipality.

The ANC has been trying to wrest Thabazimbi from a DA-led coalition since September 2023, but has been defeated in court every time. Last week, the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed the ANC application for leave to appeal.

According to sources in Limpopo’s Department Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Cogsta), the ANC has been ignoring the department’s advice not to use illegal tactics to win the hung municipality.

The sources said that the department’s stance had always been that the party must not try to win power through improper means. Cogsta MEC, Basikopo Makamu, is the ANC’s provincial deputy secretary.

Desiree van der Walt, the DA’s Thabazimbi Constituency Member of Parliament, said that the party would have to re-build the municipality that had been looted in the last six months of strife.

During that time, Van der Walt said that workers were arbitrarily dismissed and on-going contracts were terminated when the ANC forced and had its mayor elected following an irregular council sitting that ousted DA mayor, Tokkie Swanepoel, and speaker Butana Thlabadira on October 21 2022 via an ANC-orchestrated vote of no confidence.

“Since the ANC had majority seats, the other parties were unhappy and their councillors were boycotting meetings and no committees were sitting. The council has been in shambles, and the poor residents had been suffering,” she said.

“We will however do our best to ensure that people do get services because they have been suffering for a long time,” Van Der Walt said.

Limpopo ANC spokesperson, Jimmy Machaka, did not respond to questions.

The standoff between the ANC and the DA started in 2022 when about 40 unruly people stormed the council chambers to prevent a councillor from attending the meeting on the day. The meeting could not sit as police failed to control the situation.
Thlabadira and Swanepoel walked out and were followed by other councillors, including the Freedom Front Plus.

Fifteen ANC councillors and four council employees who remained behind used the opportunity to draft a new agenda, which included passing a vote of no confidence against Thlabadira and Swanepoel. They passed the vote and replaced Swanepoel with Judith Mogapi, and the new Speaker became Tshegofatso Ramoabi.  

Then acting municipal manager Lindiwe Makaya was removed and replaced by Segale Pilane.

The ANC initially lost control of the municipality for the first time in 2016 and in 2021 it could not regain after the local government elections. In the whole Waterberg region, the ANC has been weak. In 2022, rebellious ANC councillors voted with the DA to oust the ANC mayor in Lephalale, Alpheus Thulare. The DA’s Nico Pienaar took over as mayor.

The ANC governs two of the five local municipalities in the region, which are Bela-Bela (Warmbaths) and Mogalakwena (Mokopane). Thabazimbi and Modimolle-Mookgophong (Naboomspruit) are governed by DA-led coalitions.