Africa-Press – Uganda. The Patriotic Alliance (PA) is blaming the removal of its councillor as mayor of a financially struggling North West municipality on the DA and the EFF.
PA councillor Elizabeth Lethoko was removed as the mayor of Ditsobotla Local Municipality through a motion of no confidence on 8 June.
The municipality was previously dissolved due to mismanagement.
Lethoko was voted into office in a December 2022 election, in which no party won an outright majority. This led to a coalition partnership between the ANC, EFF and PA.
Her removal has raised the ire of the PA.
A majority of councillors from the EFF and DA voted for her removal.
The municipality’s new mayor is Thabo Nkashe, from the minority party Forum for Service Delivery (F4SD).
F4SD had initially helped elect the PA councillor as mayor, but the party decided it was ready to lead and placed its councillor as a mayoral candidate.
The ANC councillor who served as Speaker, Fikile Jakeni, died in office at the beginning of June, and this paved the way for the election of DA councillor Ronald Matlholoa.
Despite the PA saying it had accepted Lethoko’s removal as mayor, the party has accused the DA of voting in collaboration with the EFF.
“The DA appears to have taken advantage of F4SD’s hunger for power in a move that makes a mockery of their commitment to not trading for positions in coalitions. Jakeni was still being mourned at a memorial service, with his body barely cold, before these opportunists used this moment to get themselves into a new coalition government,” the PA said in a statement on Wednesday.
DA North West leader Leon Basson said the party voted for the best candidate for the mayoral position.
Basson said the PA was bitter in its insistence on portraying its removal from the mayoral position as a coalition between the DA and the EFF.
He said the DA had no discussions with the EFF, and the election was held by secret ballot.
“They are saying the DA worked with the EFF, which is untrue. There was no cut deal with anyone. They have lost, and the smaller parties that supported them have decided to vote them out of office because they felt the PA candidate was not the right person for the job,” Basson said.
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