Ditsobotla residents ‘won’t vote’
elections if the factions, divisions and infighting continued. He said it was concerning that he was leading an organisation that was not united when it faced its most difficult election.
“If we go to 2024 with this disunity, which I see here, I can promise you we are not going to be successful. If you want to lose the election, then you must proceed with this disunity I am seeing here,” he said.
“It does not mean in the ANC we have to work with the people we like, we have to work with people who we do not like because what unites us is the ANC.”
Ramaphosa’s remarks came nine months after Nono Maloi had won the provincial chair. He was told that the ANC councillors carried knives in council and stabbed each other over positions. Party members in the province accused Maloyi of fuelling the divisions and purging his opponents.
The party lost control of the Ditsobotla municipality in December 2021 by-elections, with its support dropping from 51% to 39%. This resulted in a hung municipality, forcing the ANC to form a coalition with smaller parties.
The ANC’S support in North West fell to 61.87% of the votes in the 2019 general elections, from 67.39% in 2014 of the vote.
An ANC councillor in Ditsobotla who spoke to the M&G this week on condition of anonymity admitted that the people in the region, especially in Ditsobotla, were losing faith in the governing party and might boycott the coming election.
“We can see how these divisions among us are affecting the community. We are already in a coalition and people obviously still believe the ANC is in charge. I was in the meeting when the president said we might lose the province if we continue with the infightings. There’s hope now with the provincial government intervening,” he said.
Driving through the town, the election posters were those of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Actionsa, umkhonto wesizwe, Democratic Alliance, South African Rainbow Alliance and Freedom Front Plus. ANC posters were nowhere to be seen.
Community leader Tshepiso Goeieman said he had also not seen the ANC campaigning in the region or in North West, adding: “I just know that only next week they will be going to Moruleng Stadium to campaign next week Saturday.”
Goeieman predicted that the ANC would lose its majority in the province, saying the EFF and Forum 4 Service Delivery would give the ruling party a run for its money.
Ditsobotla remains under administration in terms of the Municipal Financial Management Act. The North West government has been unable to restore good governance, the delivery of services and the financial health of the municipality and the residents have borne the brunt of the municipality’s failures.
Goeieman said it was time for the national government to take over Ditsobotla because the provincial government had failed.
Speaking on the sidelines of an ANC briefing on international relations last week, national executive committee member Obed Bapela agreed with residents’ assertion that the factions in the party were part of the reason for the deterioration in the municipality.
“Even when we were there, you’d think you’ve resolved the issues and one comrade will go out and do something differently,” Bapela said.
“We did disband the municipality thinking we are resolving the issues and removing those who were troublemakers and brought in new people but still the problem continues. It’s an embedded issue and I don’t know what other remedies need to be applied.”
The DA’S acting provincial director in North West, CJ Steyl, said Ditsobotla municipality existed only on paper because all basic services had collapsed, including water supply, sanitation, refuse collection, roads maintenance, electricity as well as billings to households for utilities, rates and taxes.
He backed residents’ claims that they had to buy things such as meter boxes, and that residents and businesses had to work together to fix problems that should be the responsibility of the council. “The municipality has become entitled to this kind of assistance from businesses and residents when they are already paying,” Steyl said.
“Ditsobotla has been placed under provincial administration for the last 20 years and there has been no improvement in any provincial government intervention in the municipality.”
He cited cadre deployment and nepotism as some of the reasons for the rot in Ditsobotla.
“There are 752 employees and more than 500 of them are direct family members or relatives of municipal officials in the administration or elected public representatives of the ANC. So when you have ANC factional battles with a politicised administration of 500 employees with some sort of link to ANC politicians, it impacts on the administration of the municipality,” he said.
“They will abuse their official positions if the request comes from one ANC which they are not part of. As things are, Ditsobotla will remain as is — I don’t know if it can collapse even further,” Steyl said.
In October last year, the DA wrote to Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Thembi Nkadimeng and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, asking them to place the municipality under administration, which would allow the national treasury to intervene and take full control over its financial management. But Steyl said despite his party continuously writing to both ministers, they had not considered this proposal.