Related Content ANC walkout over mayor vote Heads may roll as Eden council meets De Lille heats up coalition struggle

THE ANC has taken control of the Eden District Municipality, toppling the DA from power at a council meeting yesterday.

The vote ended an eight-month leadership battle between the two parties.

Yesterday’s special council meeting was called after the ANC submitted motions to acting municipal manager Morne Hoogbaard last week to remove council speaker Henri McCombi (DA) and Deputy Mayor Jurie Harmse (ID).

A DA motion of no confidence in Mayor Leon Dorfling of the Eden Forum was withdrawn because it did not follow legal procedures.

The DA-led coalition started to crumble last month when Dorfling publicly distanced himself from it, saying it was obsessed with power, indecisive and self-centred and that this made it impossible for him to work with it any longer.

Dorfling’s move to the ANC alliance yesterday left the DA coalition in a weak position – with only 14 seats against the ANC’s 16 seats.

The new ruling coalition is made up of the ANC with 13 seats, and the Eden Forum, Independent Civics Organisation of South Africa (Icosa) and National People’s Party (NPP) with one seat each.

The DA, with 12 seats, and its coalition partner, the Independent Democrats (ID), with two seats, will now sit in the opposition benches.

After a vote to dismiss McCombi was accepted by the majority yesterday, ANC councillor Stephen de Vries was unanimously voted in as speaker with 17 votes, which included a rogue vote from the DA/ID coalition.

McCombi, nominated by the DA, received 13 votes. Icosa councillor Fareed Stemmet, the ANC’s preferred candidate for deputy mayor, was voted in with 16 votes to 14.

Dorfling, who remains the mayor, said: “I am quite comfortable with the outcome as it was time for a change.

“I have much more capacity, strength and dedication from my new coalition to get the work done.”

An ecstatic ANC chief whip Piet van der Hoven said Eden would now have a stable government after nearly four years of DA leadership.

“We will bless them (ANC) if they can lead in the same way the DA did, but we know we have a rocky road ahead,” said McCombi.

Voters would suffer under a leadership put together with selfish motives at heart, he said.

In a bid to remain in power, the DA offered Stemmet the post of mayor.

However, Stemmet decided to accept the ANC’s offer of the deputy mayor post.

“I refused (the DA) not because I did not want to be mayor, but I could not see any way forward if the split (between parties) remained at 15/15,” Stemmet said.

“Then we would have gone right through to 2011 (municipal elections) with the circus we’ve had here for the last few months, with no discussions and no service delivery.”

Deadlocks and “hung votes” have plagued the district council since then DA mayor Rudi Laws resigned from office in March.

The new mayoral committee is made up of Stemmet, Anthony Ewerts (NPP), ANC councillors Piet van der Hoven and Nomajuda Bityi of George Municipality, Doris Xego of Bitou Municipality and Anneline Hartnick of Hessequa Municipality.