The battle for Bitou rages on

Update

BITOU NEWS - The battle for Bitou continues, despite the Western Cape High Court pressing the reset button on the town's recent political chaos.

In a tense council meeting on Tuesday 5 June the former mayor, Peter Lobese - who represents the swing vote in council - was suspended, resulting in a split vote for the mayoral seat.

History

The turmoil started after a unanimous vote of no confidence in Lobese in April this year.

Following this move the DA, along with the AUF, last month toppled the ANC-run municipality after the majority of councillors elected DA Caucus Leader Bill Nel as mayor.

The election happened during a controversial council meeting last month, which was attended by only the DA and AUF. This however was the majority of councillors.

Several other positions also changed hands during the meeting including the replacement of the deputy mayor, Sandiso Gcabayi, with Nomphumelelo Ndayi and replacing the speaker, Euan Wildeman, with Lobese.

The Bitou council has been in a precarious position since the last local government elections which resulted in the DA obtaining six out of the 13 seats, the ANC six and the AUF one. This led to several coalitions between the AUF and the other two parties.

During the meeting Lobese, who represents the AUF, sided with the DA.

The ANC, through Gcabayi, however cried foul saying the meeting that saw the latest changes take place was "illegal", and headed to court to overturn it.

Following discussions between the legal teams of both parties on 2 June, a settlement agreement was reached. The court ordered on 3 June that the controversial meeting was null and void and that a meeting for the election of a new mayor for Bitou should be scheduled for Tuesday 8 June and should be the first order of business during the meeting.

Pending the election Nel could not hold himself out as mayor. The same applied for Lobese as speaker and Ndayi as deputy mayor. The order also stated that the resolution of no confidence in Wildeman and Gcabayi should be resubmitted.

Order of business

The council meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, but the issue around electing the mayor was not the first order of business. Instead, through the speaker, Lobese was suspended as councillor with reference to a criminal case involving alleged corruption, fraud and racketeering having been opened against him. This blocked Lobese from the vote for mayor, which resulted in a split vote between Nel and Gcabayi as the nominated mayoral candidates. The meeting was postponed to 17 June for another go at electing a mayor.

This time, it was the DA that cried foul, saying that the court order had not been followed as the election of mayor should have been the first order of business. The party also said that the speaker did not have the mandate to suspend a councillor.

According to the code of conduct for councillors, a disciplinary process needs to be followed and the MEC for local government has to suspend the councillor following this process.

While a letter from Wildeman to MEC Anton Bredell requesting Lobese's suspension, was attached to the meeting's agenda, there has not been confirmation from his office to that effect.

Nel confirmed that the DA was in discussions with legal representatives and intended to turn to the courts on the matter.

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