“IT’S the silly season in ANC” said an insider this week, when factionalism led to the ANC Boland regional executive laying charges against the Drakenstein Mayor, Charmaine Manuel (ANC), for “ignoring their wishes” regarding the composition of her mayoral executive.
Manuel confirmed that charges were laid against her and that a disciplinary hearing is scheduled for 12 December.
“They have no grounds for their accusations,” Manuel emphasised.
According to an insider the events have been caused by a power struggle between the two factions in the ANC. Matters are possibly affected by the instability in the party in the run-up to the election of the ANC president next week in Limpopo.
“Dan Kotze was recently elected chairperson of the ANC in the Boland. Although he is an ordinary Drakenstein councillor he is not on the mayoral committee of either Drakenstein or Cape Winelands District Council. It’s all about getting him onto one of these highly paid committees,” an observer said.
According to the spokesperson for the ANC in the Western Cape, Garth Strachan, the Provincial Office gave Manuel a letter with instructions on the election of the mayoral committee, which she followed.
“Provincial Office are the only people who can appoint mayors and mayoral committee members.
“Boland regional management has no powers to lay charges. Only the Provincial Office can lay charges.
Among the charges laid against Manuel by the ANC Boland, are that she did not follow protocol when she announced her mayoral committee members and had not taken into account the recommendations made by Boland region.
She had refused to restructure the executive as demanded by Boland, shortly after appointing the committee after the floor-crossing window closed.
Kotze, a populist who was suspended from the ANC a few years ago and then stood unsuccessfully as an independent, has since been welcomed back into the fold.
This week he kept mum and did not respond to numerous requests for comment about.
He was also in the news earlier this year, after being charged with assault of a farmer in Klein Drakenstein, who had removed a worker from his property with a court order.
