Thabazimbi residents have mixed feelings about what they expect from SONA

With President Cyril Ramaphosa expected to deliver his State of the Nation Address on Thursday, residents in Thabazimbi in Limpopo have expressed mixed reactions about what they expect from the speech.

Thabazimbi local municipality has been facing challenges due to a political impasse between African National Congress (ANC) councillors and coalition councillors led by the Democratic Alliance (DA).

The stalemate has resulted in the formation of two parallel councils, each with its own mayor, speaker, municipal manager and chief financial officer.

The municipal manager, appointed by the ANC structure has now interdicted the acting municipal manager appointed by the coalition from accessing municipal bank accounts.

The DA will challenge the interdict on May 9th at the Polokwane High Court.

The November 2021 Local Government Elections have produced two hung councils in Limpopo, being the Modimolle-Mookgophong and the Thabazimbi Local Municipalities both in Waterberg District.

Thabazimbi Municipality has not been stable after the ANC gained 11 seats while the DA, EFF, TRA, FF Plus and TFSD won a combined 12 seats.

The five parties entered into a coalition, sending the ANC to the opposition benches. In May last year, the ANC put forward a vote of no confidence against mayor Tokkie Swanepoel.

The ANC won the vote after one councillor from the TRA supported it.

The DA however went to court to challenge the swearing-in of the new mayor, and the case is still underway in court.

In November, the ANC formed a parallel council. Residents say this instability has a detrimental effect on their lives and wish the president to address them during his SONA.

“We expect the president to address the service delivery issues around here and fix the load shedding,” a resident said.

“We had to acknowledge that we had some challenges in terms of sewer, electricity and water,” another resident explains.

“We wish the president to address the issues regarding the mining communities because we live next to mines but we are not employed by mines,” a resident elaborates.

The parallel council in Thabazimbi has led to court battles and the provision of basic services has been affected.

The municipal manager appointed by the ANC, Gladwin Tloubatla has now interdicted the coalition’s acting municipal manager, Lindiwe Makaya from accessing the municipality’s bank accounts.

The interdict grants Tloubatla and ANC’s acting Chief Financial Officer, Johannes Matlou access to all municipal bank accounts.

The DA-led coalition says it believes that it is the legitimate council and that it is challenging the interdict.

Meanwhile, the ANC in Thabazimbi says their members who were elected as the Speaker and the Mayor must be allowed to lead.