Inside the EFF Free State plot to remove Maluti-a-Phofung mayor

The Mail & Guardian understands that the recording was made on Wednesday by one of the people who was in the meeting and sent to senior ANC members in the Thabo Mofutsanyane region.

In a voice note obtained by the M&G, Msimanga instructs EFF councillors on how to vote in the motion of no confidence and discusses positions that the party will seek before supporting Melato’s removal.

“No one must be sick tomorrow. Even if you are vomiting or have a runny stomach, you might as well do it in front of us. If need be, wear a nappy, then after that you can leave. We want this thing,” Msimanga tells councillors.

He emphasises the need to track votes carefully. “As much as we want this thing, we don’t want to be accused of so-and-so selling us out. We are going to organise pens and everyone will have a different colour so that even if we get beaten, we must not claim that someone didn’t vote.”

Msimanga says the party’s secretary-general instructed that Melato needed to go: “The media will be there, creating an impression that there are those who will vote with Malekula. We want Malekula to leave,” Msimanga says.
“This time we are not going to support people for nothing. When they get half, we also want our half. When they appoint a staff member, we also want one as well. We can’t support and come back empty-handed.”

Msimanga also says: “Dieta dia sotheha [we are poor]”.

On Thursday, Melato was ousted in a chaotic motion of no confidence, which saw chairs and tables flying and the ANC walking away from the council meeting. Councillor Paratlane Motloung of the MAP16 Civic Movement was elected as the new mayor.

In the voice note, Msimanga says he is aware that some EFF councillors have been meeting Motloung to discuss the takeover of the municipality.

A female councillor replies: “We spoke about how we will take three MMCs and each MMC gets a secretary.”

Msimanga then asks who they have agreed would take over as mayor in the deal. The councillor replies that it will be MAP16.

The recording also captures discussion about collaboration with other parties, including MAP16, the Freedom Front Plus, Sarko, the African Transformation Movement, the African Content Movement and the Democratic Alliance. 

The voice note suggests that some councillors expected 33 votes in favour of removing Melato, while 31 ANC councillors were reported to be opposed. Those speaking in the voice note say the Democratic Alliance will abstain, which became the case at Thursday’s council sitting.

In the recording, those in the meeting say they will have 33 votes, while the ANC will have 31 and that eight ANC members are defying instructions to vote for Melato.

The female councillor says they want to form part of the troika. “The support we gave MAP16 in 2021 did not benefit us. It disadvantaged us so this time we need to share those positions.”

Msimanga says that if MAP16 wants the mayoral position, it must understand that positions will be shared equally. “This thing of fighters being poor is very painful and I’m asking that we should not be factional. Let’s make sure that we try to accommodate as many fighters as possible.”

He also demands that a meeting be held with those they are planning to remove Melato with before the council session begins.

“We must know what is going to happen before we go to vote to avoid conflict. We need to know what we are getting before people are placed. So before we vote, we want a meeting with all of them around 8am.”

Speaking to the M&G, Msimanga acknowledged that it was his voice in the recording and said he was aware of the voice note as it had been sent to him by an ANC member. 

He said the party would investigate who recorded the meeting and discipline them, as it was clear that there were ANC spies within their caucus.

Governance was about participation, Msimanga said, and in order to serve people, resources were needed. He added that EFF members had been doing organisational work without funding, to the extent that it was affecting the performance of the organisation.

He added that the party was taking part in government and that it had the right to contest positions of power. 
“I don’t know how controversial it is to say we are now participating in government. It is a known fact that we are contesting state power and that we can remove an ANC mayor and install our own mayor.”

ANC insiders said the party would probably challenge the removal of Melato in court, citing what they described as a flawed process in appointing the new mayor. ANC councillors, including the speaker, walked out of the meeting in an apparent attempt to break quorum and prevent the council from voting on the motion.

A councillor in the municipality told the M&G on Thursday that police were called to the council to prevent disruptions after people entered and attempted to disrupt proceedings to stop the vote.

“There are 70 councillors,” said the source. “When the ANC walked out, 36 remained, meaning we still had a quorum. By law, we were allowed to elect an acting speaker from among ourselves because the speaker had left with the ANC councillors.
“We elected an acting speaker and the meeting continued. The majority supported the motion to remove the mayor and thereafter a new mayor was elected.”

An ANC source told the M&G that they would probably take the matter to court. “There were 36 inside and we were outside. When there are 36, they meet quorum because quorum is 35. They proceeded to appoint a speaker because we were outside with our speaker.

“The law says when you appoint the speaker or the executive mayor, it is the municipal manager who presides. It cannot be a councillor presiding over another councillor. When they started the process to appoint the mayor, five DA councillors left, meaning that the mayor was appointed without a quorum.”