The Mayor of Nala Local Municipality in Bothaville in the Free State province has dashed to court in a bid to get an order that sets aside her suspension from the lucrative position.
Nozililo Mashiya filed the urgent application before the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein, after she was dethroned by her own comrades in absentia.
This follows a council sitting on 8 April 2025 that resolved to suspend her from the position, together with the Municipal Manager and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
In her court papers, Mashiya says she was not part of the sitting that resolved to suspend her. As a result, she was surprised as she was not informed in advance and asked to make representations regarding the allegations that were made against her.
“The Speaker stated that the allegations levelled against me may constitute a breach of the Code of Conduct and of the municipality’s policies and procedures, and in order to ensure fair and unbiased investigations, it was apparently necessary to suspend me from my duties as the Mayor- until the investigation is completed.
“The Speaker further requested that I refrain from attend[ing] any official functions or meetings of the municipality and that I should not represent the municipality and that I would be informed of the investigation teams’ progress and outcome,” Mashona says in the court papers, but did not specify the allegations she faced.
The toppled mayor attached a letter for the court from the MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta), Tebogo Mokoena, to the Speaker of the council, Ellias Ntlebi, stating that her suspension and that of two officials is not lawful.
“It is furthermore evident that only the MEC could have suspended me, had all the foregoing requirements of Item 16 been complied with, which the Municipality, the Speaker and the Council had patently failed to do.
“The Council thus apparently took a decision to suspend me without giving me the opportunity of providing representations as to why I should not be suspended as was required the legislation aforementioned. The unlawful decision of the Council should thus be declared to be illegal and set aside, as I request in the Notice of Motion to which this affidavit will be appended,” she pleaded with the court.
Mashiya said she had to dash to court because she was being prevented from executing her duties as the mayor.
“I am being prevented from the aforesaid execution of my duties as a result of the unlawful decision taken on 8 April 2025 and seemingly upheld and continued with by the Municipality, its Speaker and its Council. I have a clear right to have been granted all the required procedural fairness and steps which are provided for in the legislation as aforesaid, which had been obviated and ignored when the Council resolved to suspend me,” she insisted.
Meanwhile, the ANC in the Free State has suspended three of its councillors – Ntlebi, Zacharia Moshane and William Velembo – who participated in the removal of Mashiya. Their suspension was communicated in letters dated 11 April 2025, which were signed off by Polediso Motsoeneng, the party’s provincial secretary.
