New coalition wrests governance of Matzikama from DA/FF+

A new coalition government took office in the Matzikama municipality on Thursday and said it would focus on delivering services in a part of the Western Cape that has made headlines over service delivery problems.

Matzikama is situated in the northwestern part of the Western Cape and forms part of the border with the Northern Cape. It includes the towns of Vredendal, Klawer, Vanrhynsdorp and Lutzville.

On Thursday, the Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) speaker, mayor and deputy mayor were ousted via separate motions of no-confidence during a full 15-seat council sitting. The new coalition is run by the African National Congress (ANC), which has three seats in the council alongside the Patriotic Alliance (PA), which has two seats. Their governance partners are the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Good party, which each have one seat.

The new mayor is the PA’s Monica Bottom, a former community worker turned politician, who was elected to the council in November 2024 after winning a tightly contested by-election. Johan Muller of the ANC was elected as the new speaker and Xolani Tsetu from the EFF is the new deputy mayor.

Shortly after her election, Bottom said in a video aimed at residents that the new coalition’s main objective was “to deliver services to our public.  We recommit ourselves to sustained quality service delivery for the public of Matzikama municipality.”

The municipality’s services have come under fire after residents struggled for almost two weeks without water during the Namaqualand flower season, which is an economic lifeline for the area.

Daily Maverick reported that the situation was compounded by water infrastructure problems, foreign objects such as soft-drink bottles in the sewerage system, and the small municipality having difficulties attracting senior directors because it could not pay them as much as larger municipalities.

Read more: How two Western Cape towns ran dry – Coke bottles, missing director, ageing canals, broken pipes

Matzikama was one of 16 hung councils after the 2021 municipal elections. It has 15 council seats, with the DA having the majority, but not enough to govern outright. It was initially governed by a PA/ANC coalition, but after the DA won a 2022 by-election, it co-governed with the Freedom Front Plus (FF+).

This coalition dealt with water infrastructure problems and a scandal involving an allegation, which was substantiated by an investigative report, that the now-ousted deputy mayor Amelia Job’s son had been hired in the municipality without the requisite qualifications.

Read more: Water woes, questions over governance loom before Matzikama Municipality by-election

In a media release on Thursday, the Good party secretary-general, Brett Herron, said the party’s decision to support the no-confidence motions was based on “sustained ineffective leadership, failure to address community concerns, ongoing non-compliance and a lack of sound corporate governance”.

Good party councillor Christoffel van der Westhuizen is the new mayoral committee member responsible for community services.

“The previous administration failed to meet the real needs of Matzikama’s residents,” said Herron. “Good has joined this coalition with the hope that it will bring a renewed focus on service delivery, ethical governance and the upliftment of our communities.”

Read more: Key ingredients for putting together successful coalition governments

ANC Western Cape spokesperson Khalid Sayed said, “This particular change is a long time coming. We are confident that this particular collective, which reflects the spirit of unity and cohesion in the best interests of serving the needs of the people, will most certainly take the municipality forward.”

Sayed said the new coalition would deal with service delivery issues and ensure that “development in Matzikama is there for the majority of the residents, and particularly the poor and the working class”.

On Wednesday, 28 May, the Auditor-General said Matzikama was one of only 41 municipalities to receive clean audit findings during the 2023/2024 audit cycle. DM