The silent power struggle between the first female political head of the Makhado Municipality, Cllr Glory Mashaba, and the administrative arm of the municipality, Ms Faith Muthambi, recently came to light.

During the special council meeting held at the council chambers last Friday, Mashaba unexpectedly reshuffled her executive council committee (Exco).

The two councillors who have been removed are the former mayor of Louis Trichardt, Cllr Norman Mabila and Cllr Grace Nkanyane. They were replaced by Cllr David Mutavhatsindi and Cllr Steven Matamela.

According to several observers, Mashaba and Muthambi had been involved in a power struggle since 2005. As a result, their differences also created division among municipal workers and the council. It is also stated that the council is divided into Muthambi and Mashaba´s factions.

Muthambi´s faction views the mayor´s move to reshuffle the executive council committee as the abuse of power and victimisation of councillors who prefer to air their independent thinking at the council. "Mashaba is not the executive mayor who can reshuffle the executive council committee without the approval of the council," said a source, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.

Both Mabila and Nkanyane were seen as the ´great defenders´ of the municipal manager. When the council was on the verge of suspending Muthambi on allegations of misappropriation of funds, it was Nkanyane who came out strongly and defended Muthambi.

When Cllr Albert Muvhumbe, who is regarded as the ´master´ of the mayor´s faction, proposed that council should not renew Muthambi´s contract when it ends in February next year, Mabila objected to the proposal.

Mirror also learnt through reliable sources at the council that earlier this year an attempt was made by the mayor´s faction, spearheaded by Muvhumbe, to remove another member of the executive council committee, Cllr Thanyani Mudau, who is the chairperson of the name-changing committee.

"Matamela had no experience as a ward councillor, so he was also not fit to be appointed as a full-time member of the Exco, but he was pushed in because of his good alliance with Muvhumbe," said a member of the municipal manager´s faction.

When contacted to comment, Mabila could not deny or confirm being removed Exco. "This is the prerogative of the ANC; I don´t want to comment about it," he said.

The municipal chief whip, Cllr Rufus Selepe, referred Mirror to the mayor. "I think the mayor is the relevant person to talk about this issue. A chief whip only intervenes at council when members of the public have problems. In other words, I am like a public protector," said Selepe.

Council speaker Joan Hoorzuk indicated that shortly after the floor-crossing window period started, Cllr Sipho Masuka defected from the Independent Democrats and joined the ruling ANC, so it was legally up to the mayor to reshuffle the executive council committee. "It is unfortunate that I cannot explain to you why councilors were removed and replaced by others," she said.

Municipal manager Faith Muthambi also declined to comment. The mayor said that the decision to remove Mabila and Nkanyane was part of the council resolution influenced by two ID councillors who crossed the floor to join the ANC at the council.

"Together with the organisation which deployed me to this council, we took a collective decision to reshuffle the executive council committee," she said. When asked about the criteria used to remove Mabila and Nkanyane, Mashaba said that the belief of her political organisation is that its members have the capacity to shoulder responsibilities wherever they might be deployed.

She said that reshuffling will always be done when there is a need. Mashaba said that since changes may not satisfy all the people, when changes occur, there will always be those who will oppose such changes because they will be feeling the pain of it.

With regard to the allegations of camps, Mashaba said: "There are no camps here; we are all deployed for one common goal, which is service delivery. The municipal manager has been deployed to pursue the administration responsible. People should understand that there is no permanent deployment in the ANC," she said.