BITOU NEWS - Service delivery, cost cutting and an inclusive budget are some of the top priorities for the Bitou Council following the ousting of Mayor Peter Lobese through a unanimous vote of no confidence during a special council meeting on Friday morning, 16 April. 

In a surprising move the two Bitou rival parties, the DA and the ANC, voted together stating that the cooperation was necessary to deal with issues "of critical importance to the Bitou community".

Lobese, who represents the AUF, became mayor after a close local government election result in 2016. The DA won six seats with 49% of the votes, the ANC six seats with 41% and the AUF a single seat with 5%. The AUF then formed a coalition with the ANC to govern Bitou, with Lobese becoming the mayor.

In May 2017, Lobese left the ANC to form a new coalition with the DA, citing corruption in the ANC as his reason. The latter relationship however soured and about a year later the AUF was back with the ANC.

DA Caucus Leader Bill Nel described Lobese's reign as a "chaotic and irresponsible dictatorship" which was made possible by the executive mayoral electoral system. "Both parties agree that the 'kingmaker' position that allows a small inexperienced party without provincial or national backing to gain the executive mayoral position should never be permitted," Nel said.

He added that the ANC, by virtue of the Speaker's casting vote, could have passed the motion of no confidence without the support of the DA. 

"But the two parties agreed that to salvage the damage done and despite political differences, they would have to vote together to pass crucial motions on a variety of matters that have been kept in suspense for a long time, as well as on matters that are deeply concerning to all our communities."

Collective meetings
Nel said that the DA and ANC would be holding collective meetings from Monday 19 April. Some of the issues that have been identified include housing allocation and completion of projects. 

"The parties are at one that the chaos in the allocation of housing and the completion of housing projects must be addressed urgently. The parties also agree that long outstanding disciplinary action for known cases of corruption and irregular appointments must be taken urgently."

Lobese will now become an ordinary PR councillor and the deputy mayor, Sandiso Gcabayi of the ANC, will act in the position of mayor until the results of the upcoming local government elections are announced.

Bitou's deputy mayor, Sandiso Gcabayi, will now act as mayor.

Committed to service
In his acceptance speech, Gcabayi said he is committed to serving the people of Bitou with "uninterrupted services".

He said that, having served as the deputy mayor and having been a councillor for the past decade, he has vast experience in local government. 

"My knowledge of the area and the needs of the people will come in handy in my quest to lead this collective of committed councillors. We will work together to provide uninterrupted service delivery to our community," Gcabayi said. He added with about four months to the next elections, the council's aim now is to "streamline the mayoral office in an attempt to cut costs and contribute to increase service delivery". 

Gcabayi said they would also prepare and present a budget shortly. "We will have a funded budget that will cater for the needs of all our communities. The budget will go for extensive public participation so that it speaks to their needs."

Gcabayi indicated that he would be appointing an interim mayoral committee during the next few days to serve until a new mayor is elected.

"In the meantime, we assure our residents that the administration is secure. There will be no political interference. We remain committed to the work we do and our aim to deliver services to all our residents. We shall not be derailed and nothing will stop us from reaching all our goals."

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