This after the ANC’s Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) sent three names of potential mayoral candidates, including former teacher and speaker Rose Thabanchu and youth league leader Stella Mondlane, amongst others, to the ANC headquarters at Luthuli House for consideration. 

Chief whip Khaya Ndincede tells OFM News that the allegations are not a true reflection of a caucus he led because the deployment of the mayor is not the prerogative of the Jouberton councillors, but that of the ANC, which is the ruling party.

“I cannot confirm that people who are marching to the municipality are from Jouberton. Jouberton might be dominant because it is the biggest township in Matlosana. No narrative, however, says Jouberton councillors want the mayor from Jouberton or nothing. I haven’t heard that from the Jouberton councillors because I am presiding over the ANC caucus in the municipality. There might be different views,” Ndincede adds.

Matlosana mayoral candidates submitted their CV’s to the ANC IPC last week for further deliberation by the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC). Ndincede says the panel set to interview these candidates has been established.

He says he has received correspondence from the office of the Deputy Secretary-General (DSG), Jessie Duarte.

“The reason why there is a delay is not necessarily about a group of Jouberton councillors but about the processes of the ANC that are unfolding because they started with the City of Johannesburg in Gauteng, because of the mayor there passed on before our mayor. After that, they dealt with the mayor of Mangaung, reshuffling and also dealt with the issue of the premiership of the North West,” he further adds.

There is a huge euphoria amongst young people in Matlosana about the prospects of the youth league leader and currently proportional representation (PR) councillor, Mondlane, becoming the youngest mayor in the province if not the country, to replace the late former mayor, Maetu Kgaile, who passed on due to Covid-19 in July.

This euphoria might be short-lived as she is up against former Kanana’s Thuto Tsebo High School teacher and speaker, who has two successful terms of being a speaker under her belt. However, the prospect of one of these two women becoming mayor has left many women in that area with pride and jubilation as the country commemorates Women’s Month under the theme of the year of struggle stalwart Charlotte Maxeke.

OFM News