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The Congress of South African Trade Unions in the North West province is pleased with the provincial government’s decision to finally disband the Ditsobotla Local Municipality council. We commend the provincial structures for heeding the calls of the Federation and other stakeholders. This move is an indication of the government’s serous consideration of the interests and needs of the communities who reside in this municipality.

Since the year 2021, this council has been marred with infighting amongst the councillors. Their bickering, political and personal differences have compromised progress and service delivery.

The immediate task for the African National Congress(ANC) in the province is to apply rule 25 of the party’s constitution, without fear or favour, against its members who have been deployed in the Ditsobotla council and have contributed to the collapse of that municipality. Their conduct has put the ANC into disrepute and should be dealt with accordingly. 

COSATU also calls on the party to urgently set up an all-inclusive election machinery to start preparing for the upcoming by-elections. Concurrently, it should ensure that any of its members implicated in activities that contributed to the current status of the council, are excluded from the list of potential candidates. 

We appeal to law enforcement agencies to closely monitor the situation in that municipality.  Judging from past events, there’s a high probability of chaos, which might be driven by some anarchists.

Lastly, the appointed administrator must hit the ground running and immediately attend to the mayhem in the municipality, particularly issues related to salaries of the workers.

Issued by COSATU North West