Johannesburg – The VBS Mutual Bank looting has set the stage for a fresh clash between factions supporting President Cyril Ramaphosa and the party’s suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule in Limpopo.
The future of several mayors in the province linked to the VBS saga is back under the spotlight as political skirmishes between the two factions intensify as ANC regional structures gear up for elective conferences.
This comes after the party’s regional executive committee in Vhembe last week decided on the removal of Thulamela mayor Avhashoni Tshifhango, who has been implicated in the findings of a report by accounting company BDO, which was commissioned by the provincial treasury in 2019.
The firm found that the 12 municipalities that invested with VBS between February 2015 to January had done so in contravention with the Municipal Finance Management Act and regulations of the Municipal Investment Regulations, among others.
The report recommended that action be taken against all the mayors of Polokwane (Thembi Nkadimeng), Vhembe (Florence Radzilani), Capricorn (Gilbert Kganyago), Makhuduthamaga (Minah Maithula), Makhado (Mildred Sinyosi), Lepelle (Nakedi Sibanda), Giyani (Sasavona Mathebula), Fetakgomo (Johannes Phokane), Ephraim Mogale (Bela Kupa), Elias Motswaledi (Julia Mathebe) and Colins Chabane municipality mayor Joyce Bila.
Radzilani and Kganyago have since resigned from their posts. The party’s provincial executive committee decided to fire only those mayors whose municipalities failed to recoup their investments, including Bila, Radzilani, Sibanda, Phokane, Mathebula and Shonisani.
Questions have arisen why Tshifhango was the only one targeted when his municipality retrieved its investment of R30-million with interest, while the likes of Nkadimeng, Mathebe and Maitula retained their positions.
Tshifhango has since written to the ANC Vhembe district secretary Anderson Mudunungu and the provincial secretary Soviet Lekganyane, saying that the region did not have the power to remove him as mayor, which is a function of the party’s provincial executive committee.
He said last week the chairperson of the party in Vhembe, Tshitereke Matibe, had asked him to resign in line with the BDO report. “The chairperson has advised the mayor to resign.
Has the PEC [provincial executive committee ee], which has the prerogative to deploy and recall mayors, discussed and recommended that I resign? The ANC national executive committee has been hard at work on the step-aside resolution of the national conference. In implementing such, the ANC has instructed that internal due processes should be followed,” he wrote.
Sources said Tshifhango’s matter was set to divide the PEC as it has become a proxy in the battle for the control of the province between the faction aligned with Lekgaynane, a key Ramaphosa ally, and the province’s treasurer Danny Msiza, who is a Magashule supporter.
“The decision [on Tshifhango] will cause divisions in the province. If Tshifhango survives, it means the president [Ramaphosa] is winning in Limpopo. If he loses, then Ace wins,” a leader in Limpopo said. Lekganyane could not be reached for comment.
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