The African National Congress (ANC) in Mangaung has dismissed allegations that it threatened its councillors with a lie detector test. This comes after the party lost a speaker position in the Mangaung Metro.
The Democratic Alliance (DA)’s Maryke Davies was elected the new Mangaung Metro Municipality speaker through a secret ballot vote during a special council sitting.
Davies beat the ANC’s Lawrence Mathae. 96 councillors voted and Davies won with 53 votes while Mathae received 40 votes. It is believed that some ANC councillors voted with the opposition.
Mangaung Metro has a DA council Speaker for the first time since democracy:
The Mangaung Metro Municipality in the Free State has a new council speaker from a different political party for the first time in the new democratic South Africa.
Following the resignations of former executive mayor Maxolisi Siyonzana and council speaker Stefani Lockman-Naidoo, opposition parties, along with some ANC members, say change is needed.
The election of the new speaker from the Democratic Alliance left many in shock.
ANC Mangaung Spokesperson, Ncamile Nxangisa, says the party has elevated the issue of ill-discipline by some party members to the Provincial Executive committee.
“As the ANC Mangaung, we are deeply concerned and disturbed by reports that seek to suggest that as the ANC we would wince the councillors of the ANC into one of the municipal buildings with the view of forcing them to go through a lie detector against their will. I want to confirm that no such activity has happened even though historically as the ANC we are on record having had raised issues of ill discipline amongst councillors of the ANC in Mangaung.”
