MIDDELBURG — The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Steve Tshwete is preparing to fill two vacant proportional representation (PR) council seats after councillors Thabiso Tshoane and Mapheto Maredi left the party following allegations that they failed to fulfil deployment duties.
The party said the seats would be filled internally without the need for by-elections.
Both councillors left the party after being asked to resign for allegedly failing to honour deployment duties, according to EFF provincial secretary Jackson Malatjie.
Malatjie alleged that Tshoane, who served in the subregional elections task force (SRETF), failed to carry out assigned work at branches within the subregion.
“Currently we are engaged in a mass voter registration process compiling data for new members and first-time voters. Thabiso has never done that work. So he was recalled from the SRETF,” Malatjie said.
He said once Tshoane was removed from the SRETF, he was expected to resign from public office.
“The office of the secretary-general instructed him to resign, but he did not do so. The party then terminated his membership,” Malatjie said.
Tshoane was among five party members in Steve Tshwete who were suspended in October last year for allegedly disrupting a branch general assembly (BGA) meeting and sowing divisions within the organisation.
Regarding Maredi, Malatjie said he served in the subregional command team (SRCT) and resigned from the SRETF, citing excessive workload.
“Once you’re elected to the SRCT, you are now the leader of that subregion because you’re part of the collective elected in an assembly of the EFF. Therefore, once you resign, you have defined yourself outside that collective,” he said.
Malatjie said he informed Maredi that resigning from the SRETF also meant he had to resign as a public representative.
“He then sent a letter withdrawing the resignation after being asked to resign. He then voluntarily left the organisation,” Malatjie said.
Malatjie said the party would proceed with filling the two seats through its internal processes.
“We are currently in the process of replenishing our list. We will then make an announcement very soon,” he said.
Tshoane is believed to have joined the newly formed Amalgamated Steve Tshwete party, while Maredi has reportedly joined the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Attempts to obtain comment from Tshoane and Maredi were unsuccessful at the time of publication.
