Lakaje in surprise comeback

By Libuseng Nyaka

QwaQwa – Masetjhaba Mosia-Lakaje has made a triumphant comeback to the position of mayor after beating Gilbert Mokotso, who was recently ousted through vote of no confidence, by 38 votes against 19.

Mokotso, who had reigned for only 18 months through a coalition government, was ousted by a vote of no confidence in September.

Maluti-a-Phofung is made of 70 councilors. Of the 67 councilors who attended Friday’s sitting, 10 councilors from Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) abstained from voting for both Mayor and Speaker.

The new Speaker Madlankosi Dlamini received 36 votes against former Speaker Paratlane Motloung’s 21.

Speaking after his election, Dlamini ominously warned the councilors that there was a new sheriff in town, and it will no longer business as usual.

“We have been crying for a long time. It has been 18 months since we’ve been crying for the good running of the council. As for me as the new Speaker I am going to deal with two things effective communication with the councilors, what must be done in their respective wards and come back to present to the council. The flow of information, holding community meetings and gathering all issues raised by the community, take them to the administration for action and holding the executive accountable.

“The second one is consultation; we must consult our communities.”

For her part, the newly elected Mosia-Lakaje thanked her party – the ANC – for trusting her to lead the municipality again, as she promised to hit the ground running.

“I would like to thank my party for trusting me to lead this municipality again. I promise to work hard to ensure that all complaints raised by our community are addressed, especially the issues of electricity, water and poor roads.”

ANC with its 28 seats enters into a coalition government with Dikwankwetla Party of South Africa (three seats), ACM (two seats) and AIC, SARCO, and ATM which have one seat each.