ANC Fires Mayor over Corruption Allegations

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has fired the mayor and senior officials of Sakhile, a township near Johannesburg, over corruption allegations that sparked weeks of public protests.

Mayor Juliet Radebe-Khumalo and her entire municipal board were dismissed by a decision of the ANC National Working Committee that found them culpable of corruption and mismanagement, two allegations that has drew protests from residents blaming the team for failing to provide proper housing and basic supplies.

Protest in Sakhile, which is about 129 km south east of Johannesburg, erupted in September this year after claims of the fraud and corruption involving the municipal officials surfaced in a local government report.

Speaking to the state-run South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula described the ANC’s decision to fire Mayor Radebe-Khumalo and her team “as a matter of principle”.

South African newspapers reported that over 150 people were arrested for wrongdoing during the Sakhile protests, but 97 were released on bail early last week.

An interim management authority will be installed to manage the township ahead of local elections in 2010.

South African President Jacob Zuma has promised to improve services in townships to end the tendency towards protests, which are spilling over to other cities.

President Zuma’s vow to uplift South Africa’s majority black population was a key campaign plank that gave him a landslide victory in the May 2009 elections. [ER].