The ANC in the North West wants all its councillors in different municipalities to follow the party’s discipline line to avoid divisions during party caucus meetings.
The party’s Interim Provincial Committee coordinator, Hlomani Chauke, said this at the JB Marks Local Municipality in Potchefstroom on Monday. He was addressing the new mayors, speakers and single whips of different municipalities in the province.
It was their first meeting after being elected to office and part of the gathering’s mission was to discuss local governance matters and a three-month plan of action for municipalities.
“We have resolved that it is important that we lay a foundation having won all the municipalities across the province. It is important to learn from the mistakes that we have gone through before where most of our councils collapsed before the elections,” Chauke said.
He added that the party wanted its councillors to look at their role and responsibilities that are crucial to run the councils efficiently.
“We wanted to look at how best they can manage caucuses of the ANC because that’s part of the problem. We have made the call that at a number of municipalities there must have been intervention before, especially the removal of troikas who at some point resisted.
“We believe that without a solid strong leadership at their level we would not have a stable council,” said Chauke.
The meeting was attended by, among others, North West premier Bushy Maape and Interim Provincial Committee convener, Susanna Dantjie, who is also Speaker of the provincial legislature.