According to the DA Chief Whip in the council, Tshidiso Molahloe, both the mayor and the MM were removed at a special council sitting on Friday. 

He says they were removed following instructions from the provincial department of Cooperative Governance (Cogta). 

Molahloe says they were informed that the two were not fit for these two positions. 

Both the municipality and Cogta are yet to comment on OFM News' questions.

“The Cogta [department] had advised us that the municipal manager does not have proper qualifications to be the municipal manager. They were advising us to sit down and check his qualifications and we found out that he has got only a BA Degree and his major subjects were History and Sesotho,” he adds. 

Molahloe indicates that the council has since appointed new leaders in the two posts and they will be acting for a period of two months. 

He says the mayor was removed because he had served two terms. 

The municipality recently experienced a wave of protests in two areas including Winburg and Theunissen.

 OFM News