ELIZABETH Lethoko, the newly elected mayor of Ditsobotla Municipality in North West and a member of the Patriotic Alliance (PA), has resigned just hours after being elected.
She was elected mayor in a coalition government to the embattled municipality on Monday, 9 January.
But before the end of day, she had rendered her resignation to speaker Fikile Jakene.
Lethoko, Jakene and chief whip Jento Nkashe were elected on the first council sitting after the by-elections last month.
In her letter, Lethoko said following the conclusion of all items on the agenda, a surprise matter was tabled – of appointing the administrator as municipal manager.
She said at no point did the ANC raise this important matter with her or PA president Gayton McKenzie, who was present all day.
“I must agree that the EFF was correct in protesting against the tabling of this matter since any additional items should have been tabled through an addendum. The manner in which this was performed was duplicitous in the extreme and clearly intended to side-step proper council procedures,” she wrote.
“The public protector will fight against this administration if we go about conducting our appointments in such irregular fashion. My party will not be associated with underhanded tactics, which one can only presume are intended to cover up corruption in Ditsobotla.”
Lethoko further said the coalition government should not exist to protect wrongdoers from going to jail and if they had a case to answer for, they should be prosecuted.
McKenzie said the party fully supported Lethoko’s decision to resign.
He said that it would have been unconscionable of her to continue in this role following the display of blatant corruption in council.
“She could not be complicit with such behaviour nor be asked to answer for it,” he said.
McKenzie also applauded Lethoko, stating that ANC members in council seemed eager to have him leave proceedings after she was elected.
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“But I was determined to stay until the end and I’m grateful I did. Stunts like these will never be tolerated by the PA. The ANC needs to learn that a coalition government is different to governing a council outright. It cannot keep doing things it had taken for granted before. It has to change its ways,” he said.
Meanwhile, North West ANC provincial chairwoman Nono Maloyi said a meeting between leaders of the two parties would strengthen their coalition agreements.
