North West municipality speaker quits under pressure

Speaker of Moses Kotane local municipality Gugu Mtshali has resigned, ending weeks of speculation about her future after the ANC in the North West instructed her to step down.

- Eric Naki

There were rumours initially that Mtshali intended to challenge the ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) decision for her to go. But on Friday she wrote a letter to the provincial secretary, Louis Diremelo, to inform him of her resignation.

However, in the letter Mtshali urged the PEC to hold the entire Moses Kotane ANC caucus accountable for the state of affairs in the council and the council meeting on 21 October that was abruptly postponed. Mtshali was accused of being responsible for this due to disruptive behaviour.

There were also allegations of corruption against the speaker. Her office allegedly attempted to solicit a bribe from a service provider renovating the audio system of the council chamber.