It’s been a week now that the Makhado Municipality has been without a mayor, after the former mayor of Makhado Munici-pality, Glory Mashaba, resigned last Wednesday.

Mashaba, who is one of the five mayors of Limpopo who were recalled by the provincial executive committee (PEC) of the African National Congress (ANC) last month, in what is seen in some quarters as a politically motivated purge.

Mirror visited the Makhado municipal offices on Monday, only to witness the removal of all Mashaba’s pictures from the municipal offices’ walls by municipal officials.

The whereabouts of Mashaba was still not known at the time of going to press, though rumours are going around that she was deployed in the provincial government.

The axed mayors are Glory Mashaba of Makhado, Angie Ramaopadi of Greater Giyani, Tebogo Mohapi of Modimolle, Marry Maphanga of Marble Hall and Refelwe Kub-jane of Blouberg.
Meanwhile, the former Chief Whip of the Makhado Municipality, Cllr Rufus Selepe, was deployed to the Vhembe District Municipality as a full-time councilor, representing Makhado Municipality. Speaking to Mirror on Tuesday, Selepe confirmed his deployment to serve as a full-time councilor at the Vhembe District Municipality.

The spokesman for the Makhado Municipality, Louis Bobodi, confirmed that there was no acting mayor at the Municipality yet and that Mavhungu Luruli, who was said to be replacing Mashaba, was not yet in the office. “The ANC is busy working on the matter and, hopefully, the acting mayor will soon be appointed,” he said.

Contacted for comment on Tuesday, DA councillor Jacques Smalle, said that not having a mayor or an acting mayor brought uncertainty to both municipal employees and the public. “The service at the municipality is highly affected as there will be no decision that will be taken before a mayor is appointed,” he said.

According to Smalle, there is no link between the municipal council and administration at the moment. He added that the issue of the acting mayor was on the agenda during the council meeting that took place on the 26th, the day when the mayor officially sent over her resignation to council, but the meeting was called off after an hour.