Task team rubbishes any claims that ANC Frances Baard regional chairperson Mangaliso Matika influenced his aunt’s appointment
THE ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) regional task team in Frances Baard has welcomed the appointment of Eucia Thobeka Matika as a proportional representative (PR) councillor at Sol Plaatje Municipality.
Thobeka Matika, who is a close family member of ANC regional chairperson Mangaliso Matika, was sworn in during a council meeting last week.
She replaced the late Patrice Dipuo Bishop who died in November last year.
ANCWL regional task team spokesperson, Elaine Modise, was clear that there was no political influence involved in her appointment, despite her being Mangaliso Matika’s aunt.
“Thobeka is a leader in her own space. She served the ANC at branch and regional level and was an additional member of the ANCWL and ANCYL in the Hutshe Segolodi branch,” said Modise on Tuesday.
“The ANCWL aims to further women’s participation in government and spearhead the emancipation of women within the ANC and its structures.”
Modise said that Thobeka joined the ANC in the late 80s. “She was a member of the Congress of South African Students, a Nehawu shop steward at Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital, served as the ANC branch treasurer and field worker co-ordinator of the Sebabatso ward committee.”
ANC regional spokesperson Tshepo Louw explained that the regional working committee (RWC) and the regional executive committee (REC) scrutinised each candidate when a vacancy arose at the municipality.
“The criteria used is to go through the political profile of the comrade and capabilities before a recommendation is made to the ANC provincial executive committee (PEC), which approves the appointment before it is submitted to the Electoral Commission.
“Therefore, just like any other comrade, the name of Thobeka Matika went through scrutiny before the recommendation was done. It is therefore a fallacy that the chairperson of the region, Mangaliso Matika, has in any way influenced the process … (any such claims) are untrue and malicious,” said Louw.
He added that Thobeka had joined the ANC on a voluntary basis.
“She contributed to the development and growth of the movement. As a woman, she stood firm in defending the interest of women on all fronts. It is therefore the reason that she is the appropriate candidate for the position.”
