Samwu leader in tribal tirade - Mathe attacks mayor Nkadimeng and Vendas

Polokwane municipality is mostly staffed with people of Venda origin, shipped in from Thohoyandou, thanks to mayor Thembi Nkadimeng.

This and other hard-hitting claims were made by the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) general secretary Simon Mathe.

Mathe, also an ANC member, was addressing a public meeting held at Moletjie village outside Polokwane last weekend. He also told the gathering the municipality's human resources department is dominated by people who don't come from Polokwane, and tenders awarded to Gauteng companies.

Nkadimeng spends two days in Polokwane and three in Gauteng, said Mathe.

"The ANC in Limpopo made a mistake when they appointed their 'daughter-in-law' [Nkadimeng] as the mayor of the city; when she loses her campaign to become the next Peter Mokaba regional chairperson, she must be expelled from her job."

Clad in ANC regalia, Mathe started off by lampooning Nkadimeng, who relocated to Limpopo after getting married to politician Tito Nkadimeng.

She is also the sister of Nokuthula Simelane, the MK operative from Bethal, Mpumalanga, who was killed by apartheid assassins in exile in Swaziland in 1983.

Mathe made his shocking speech in front of Capricorn district mayor John Mpe, who Nkadimeng is contesting for the position of Peter Mokaba regional chair next month.

"How do we allow our sister-in-law ... to come here and control us? That's the question we must first ask.

"So, we must just declare here that after losing [at the] conference, she must also lose her mayoral position because she comes into our area and wants to control us," he said.

Mathe also ventured into tribalistic vitriol against Nkadimeng and Venda speakers.

"She takes people from Thohoyandou to live in Aganang (Moletjie). The children from here don't work in [their] municipalities. Where are they supposed to work?

"... local municipalities were designed to employ local children. But when you go to the human resource department of the Polokwane municipality, 90% of the staff are from there [Thohoyandou]."

Mathe's attack on Nkadimeng seems to be also informed by her apparent intention to contest Mpe.

"They have not even finished paying lobola, they still owe, but you want to be a chairperson already," added Mathe.

"We agree that we have made a mistake, we are not saying that we apologise for this mistake, we must rectify this mistake by removing this woman."

Polokwane municipality spokesman Tshediso Mothapo said they were disappointed with Mathe's comments.

"Polokwane has policies that deal with recruitment and supply chain management. The policies are not guided by tribalism and sexism but guided by the various regulations and prescripts of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa," Mothapo said.

Nkadimeng said she was disappointed that Mathe judged her by whom she is attached to and not by who she is.

"The most unfortunate part is that he still subscribes to tribalism which is against the ethos of the ANC and Samwu. I have reported him to the relevant authorities and hopefully they will deal with this matter," she said.

Mathe said he apologised to Nkadimeng and Venda speaking people for his tirade.

"I should have known better."