New GR Mayor elected

Update

GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - The political tug-of-war for the positions of mayor and chief whip in the Dr Beyers Naudé Municipal Council has finally drawn to a close with the election of ANC Cllr Willem Safers as mayor and Thembekile Spogter as whip of council.

The meeting

Safers (ANC) received 13 votes against Ewald Loock (DA) who received 11 votes after someone from the opposition voted with the ANC at the special council meeting on 11 August.

Voting for the chief whip ended in deadlock after the Spogter (nominated by the ANC) and EFF Cllr Tracy Plaatjies (nominated by the DA) both received 12 votes.

The ANC initially nominated FF+ Cllr Riaan van Heerden as chief whip, but he declined the nomination. Subsequently, at the special council meeting on 15 August, the ANC nominated Spogter as whip of council. This nomination was uncontested as the DA's candidate for the position, EFF Cllr Plaatjies, did not attend the meeting and they then elected a different candidate.

New councillor

"It was a bittersweet day for the DA in Dr Beyers Naudé," said Samantha Graham-Maré, MP - Dr Beyers Naudé Constituency Leader

"We saw our new councillor Izak (Sakkie) van Zyl, being sworn in. He has replaced François de Villiers who moved to the Western Cape.

"We know that Van Zyl will serve the residents of Dr Beyers Naudé with distinction. Sadly, we lost the mayoral seat to the ANC, but that will not change our commitment to our voters to ensure they get proper service delivery."

Comments from parties

On Saturday, the EFF Provincial Secretary, Mlamli Makhetha, indicated that the EFF did not give any instruction to any councillor to vote with the ANC.

Makhetha was still under the impression that the ANC mayor was voted in on the deciding vote of the speaker and when informed of the status quo he stated that he will respond to Graaff-Reinet Advertiser's enquiry after communicating with the counsellor involved. To date no response was received.

Graham-Maré stated that the DA does not know who voted with the ANC, but have their suspicions. She added that the DA have absolute faith in their councillors and the FF+ as their coalition partner.

Why the election of a new mayor?

The positions of mayor and chief whip in the municipal council remained vacant since 18 May when Loock and Ricardo Smith were removed as mayor and chief whip following a motion of no confidence tabled against them by the ANC.

At the time, the meeting voted 12 against and 12 in support of the motion.

The speaker, Cheslin Felix, had the deciding vote and voted in favour of the ANC motion.

Following the removal of Loock and Smith the election of a new mayor and whip of council was postponed, allowing time to obtain a legal opinion on whether the removal of the mayor complied with section 53 or 57 of the Municipal Structures Act as the municipal manager, Edward Rankwana, was unable to respond to questions raised in this regard.

A council meeting for the election was then arranged for 23 May but the DA, EFF, and FF+ counsellors failed to attend and the municipality remained without a mayor and chief whip. In a media statement released on 24 May, Graham-Maré stated that the DA is still awaiting the legal opinion before the election of the new mayor.

Subsequently, at a special council meeting on 7 June, ANC Cllr Safers was introduced as new mayor and ANC Cllr Spogter as new chief whip of the Dr. Beyers Naudé municipality on the deciding vote of the speaker, CSA Cllr Felix.

The DA objected to this as, in terms of Schedule 3 of the Municipal Systems Act, the speaker does not have a deciding vote in the election of a mayor.

The speaker refused to consider their objection and for this reason they approached court to enforce the rule of law. On 12 July the High Court in Makhanda declared the election of Safers as mayor and Spogter as chief whip unlawful and it was set aside.

At this point the identity of the cloak swinger remains a mystery. At the time of the local government elections in November 2021 the FF+ and EFF publicly stated that they will not be voting with the ANC for any position in any municipality.

FF+ Cllr Riaan van Heerden managed to vindicate himself as he provided proof that he voted with the DA.

Previous article: ANC Councillor Willem Safers elected as mayor

Councillor Izak (Sakkie) van Zyl. Photos: Chriszanne Janse van Vuuren