This, after the ANC in the province has redeployed her to this position following her suspension. Makhalema found herself in hot water in June for her slanderous Facebook post where she called President Cyril Ramaphosa a “sellout”. ANC’s Provincial Secretary, Paseka Nompondo, last week told OFM News the mayor’s redeployment at this municipality was informed by issues on the ground including the provision of service delivery. He said Makhalema has shown great remorse for her actions and has apologised to the president. DA councillor in the municipality, Eric Motloung, however, says Makhalema’s redeployment is unlawful and worsens the state of the municipality. He says the municipality is in a state of disarray under her leadership.

This financially troubled municipality is in debt with millions. It owes Eskom R196 million. Residents in Bethlehem earlier this year took to the streets to protests over service delivery issues and called for Makhalema’s resignation amidst rampant corruption allegations.

“Only Council is allowed to suspend the mayor. So, what the ANC has done in suspending and redeploying her is not in align with the state of affairs at Dihlabeng. We as the DA have written to the Speaker requesting that he brings the mayor to the council so we hold her accountable as per the code of conduct of the municipality, but that never happened. What we saw was a smoke screen to say she has been suspended and therefore she is now back to ‘basically fix the mess’.”

Motloung questions why the municipality is still battling to provide basic services such as refuse collection if Makhalema was there to fix the mess. He says she must go.

OFM News