On 20 January ANC councillors (Cllr) in the Province and also in Tlokwe Municipality were issued with letters informing them to make a choice if they

are dually employed. This was executed by the Provincial Secretary, Mr Kabelo Mataboge. 

According to the letter all Cllr’s who are dually employed as an ANC councillor and employed by a Government institution as public servants

must either choose to resign in one of the two positions that they hold. This decision of the ANC comes after the ANC’s 2007

Polokwane Resolutions Conference as it discourages dual employment of public representatives.

A full time councillor working for the Tlokwe City Council receives an inclusive salary of R41400 pm and a part time salary of R17000 pm.

Only three out of twenty seven ANC Cllr’s are affected by the dual employment and is working for the Government as well. They are: Kholisile

Qolome of ward 7; Motsumi Hlahaswane, proportional  Cllr and Lephoi Mojapele . All three Cllr’s works for the Department of Health and

Education respectively. People, who spoke to the Herald anonymously said, ‘They will rather loose their jobs as Cllr’s as

there is no stability and they can’t afford to loose their years of service in Government.’

There are two types of councillors, full time and part time. If a public servant is elected as a full time councillor, they must resign from their

position in the public service. However, part time councillors are allowed to continue with their jobs.

Some of the community members gave this decision of the ANC a thumps up and said it was long overdue and they can’t satisfy both their bosses as

one of the jobs are going to be neglected. For example, teachers would leave learners unattended when serving as councillor. The other side is when the community

is really in need of a councillor they are mostly busy with their other jobs and were not easily accessible, which led to a lack of service delivery to the people.’