ANC unseats DA in Matzikama; De Lille faces yet another test today

THE DA has lost yet another municipality.

The ANC is taking over the Matzikama Local Municipality after the DA was booted out of power. DA ward 6 chairperson in Matzikama, William Nutt, last night said the mayor had resigned leaving the position vacant. The new mayor was ANC councillor Hennie Nell.

Nell said eight of the 15 councillors endorsed him while seven voted for the DA candidate.

“I am very excited. The service delivery is not good.

“There is also the question of whites occupying executive positions in council in the DA and those who are not are given lower positions. The ANC only has five councillors.

“Other votes came from the opposition including the EFF and the DA,” he said.

DA spokesperson Odette Cason said: “The DA notes the outcome of the mayoral vote in Matzikama. We will be dealing with it through due processes.”

This as the DA will attempt to remove Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille through yet another motion of no confidence today.

Also facing the chop is city council Speaker Dirk Smit, accused by the ANC of lying to the council. De Lille says she remains positive ahead of today’s motion of no confidence.

It comes almost six months since a first motion failed by a single vote when the ANC voted against the motion. A second motion, within the DA caucus only, succeeded, leading to the party’s attempt to recall her.

Today’s motion of no confidence will be the third. The party will again ask its city caucus to vote against her leadership, which the DA says has been autocratic and divisive.

Last month, De Lille won a court battle to have her DA membership reinstated, a ruling the DA is appealing against.

De Lille told the Cape Times yesterday, “the motion of no confidence in the past and this one has been on the basis of untested allegations without evidence”. “I remain positive and continue to put the people of Cape Town first,” she said.

Asked to comment on the ANC’s motion, Smit said: “I am a professional politician and it is okay”. About the ANC’s accusations, he said: “I have never ever told a lie to council.”

Whether the motion of no confidence will be on a secret ballot, Smit said: “I will apply my mind tomorrow (today).”

By deadline yesterday, DA spokesperson and MP Solly Malatsi said the party’s FedEx had been in a meeting “still considering the motion”.

“The outcome will be communicated once FedEx has concluded its consideration.”

ANC Chief Whip in the council Xolani Sotashe said he would table a motion of no confidence in Smit who was compromised as Speaker due to him being influenced by DA factionalism.

Earlier this month the DA was dealt a major blow when the Karoo Democratic Front (KDF) and the ANC in Beaufort West voted in favour of a motion of no confidence to remove DA mayor Japie van der Linde, his deputy, Delene Slabbert, and Speaker Euna Wentzel from office.

This saw the KDF’s Noël Constable elected the new mayor, while the ANC’s Truman Price was elevated to deputy mayor. Michael Motsoane is the new speaker. See Op-ed Page 9