An ANC mayor in North West province stands accused of flouting council rules, sowing division and employing his friends and relatives without following proper procedures.
The party’s councillors in the Moretele local municipality have written a letter to the provincial executive committee (PEC), accusing mayor George Manyike of nepotism and of flouting council rules.
In the letter, the councillors warned the PEC they were worried Manyike could cost the party in the 2026 local government elections.
They accused Manyike of voting with the opposition to provide municipal manager Sentle Moreriane private security despite the municipality being in financial distress. In another matter, councillors also claimed the mayor’s office issued an advert calling on interested youth to be trained as traffic officers.
“The advert together with the programme was never presented to the council for approval. When caucus asked about the advert, the mayor informed the caucus that it’s fake and he knows nothing about it,” reads the letter sent to the PEC.
The ANC caucus claimed in the letter that it was surprised to learn that several students went to Tzaneen to train as traffic officers at a cost of R800 000.
“Worse is that the mayor’s son and relatives of administrators are part of those students. There is no report to council on this programme and it’s administered in a secretive manner and with a total disregard to public purse and accountability,” said councillors.
ANC politicians within the municipality also claimed Manyike insisted that the training programme should continue, this despite him denying knowledge of the project.
“The administration of Moretele is embarrassing to an extent that as councillors, we are made by the mayor to approve items in council that seek to make double payments to different service providers on the basis of mistaken payments,” reads the letter.
They claim that the Moretele council was highly divided due to Manyike’s style of leadership.
Manyike said: “If you say they wrote a letter to PEC, then the provincial secretary should be the one responding. If people complain about council matters, they should go to the council, however, if they have taken it to the media, it’s fine. I can’t respond as this is speculation.”
ANC provincial chair Nono Maloyi and the party’s North West spokesperson, Tumelo Maruping did not respond to our questions. Maruping hanged up the phone when we called.
