Newly-elected mayor of the hung Thabazimbi Local Municipality in Limpopo says it is not going to be easy to lead the municipality after several years of poor administration and political instability.
African National Congress (ANC) Councillor, Tumisang Pilane was elected unopposed as the mayor during the municipality’s inaugural council seating today.
Three ANC councillors were elected to the mayoral council, alongside a councillor from the Democratic Alliance (DA) and another from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
Mayor Pilane says his priority is to provide quality services to the public.
“It is not going to be easy after many wasted years of poor administration where parties neglected the commitment to serve the community, with diligent wasted time on matters that have nothing to do with service delivery. We should have sleepless nights as we compete to provide quality services and leadership to our people despite our difference in ideology. I pledge to serve this council and the people of Thabazimbi without fear or favour and remain humble servant of the people,” says Pilane.
23 Thabazimbi municipality councilors are sworn in at the inaugural council seating. They’re later expected to elect the speaker, mayor and heads of committees. The ANC has 10 seats, DA 4, EFF 3, Labour Party and FFplus have 2 each and MKP and TRA have 1 seat each. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/S6preUnx3I
— Pimani Baloyi (@PimaniBaloyi) December 12, 2024
DA constituency head in the Waterberg region, Desiree van der Walt, says they did not contest any positions in the interest of the municipality.
“No arrangement with the ANC, as you see they contested the position on their own. We did not put any candidate in those positions. It has actually nothing to do with us and the ANC. It has actually to do with the difficulty the municipality is in currently and at the moment, we felt we are not going to contest,” says van der Walt.
ANC Limpopp provincial secretary, Rueben Madadzhe, interacts with DA Waterberg constituency head, Desiree Van Der Walt, ahead of the first council seating in Thabazimbi. Last week’s by election produced a hung council where parties need to work together to govern #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/14eUrGXq7m
— Pimani Baloyi (@PimaniBaloyi) December 12, 2024
ANC councilor, Tumisang Pilane has been elected mayor of the hung Thabazimbi Local Municipality. The ANC has 10 of the 23 council seats. ANC councilors were also voted as speaker and chief whip. The mayoral committee also has a DA and a EFF councilor #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/R1TJFMj3VR
— Pimani Baloyi (@PimaniBaloyi) December 12, 2024
