North West council speaker unseated

Councillors of the ANC-run Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality in the North West have removed speaker Tebogo Ramashilabele.

"We are going to have a meeting with the councillors [on Friday] to get their side of the story so we can determine what the situation is," ANC spokesman Ishmael Mnisi said on Friday.

The Democratic Alliance in the municipality, which has its seat in Mahikeng, said it walked out of a council meeting on Thursday because it was clear it was focusing on "ANC factional interests driven by power hungry individuals".

"We will not assist the ANC in their disruptive internal battles," DA councillor Jacqueline Theologo said.

"Due to the inquorate council all decisions made in council would be deemed unlawful."

This is the second municipality in the North West where African National Congress councillors have unseated one of their own.

ANC councillors voted to unseat Tlokwe mayor Maphetle Maphetle last week. On July 2, DA councillor Annette Combrink was voted in as the new mayor, for the second time since November, unseating Maphetle.

On July 3, the North West ANC's provincial disciplinary committee expelled 14 of its councillors who voted him out.

However, the ANC is adamant that Maphetle remains Tlokwe mayor because it claims the council meeting, where he was unseated, was unlawful.

The party had applied to the High Court in Pretoria for it to declare the meeting illegal.