- Dagma Mamanyoha has now moved from the Greater Letaba mayoralty to Mopani, while his former Chief Whip, Rosina Ramalatso, has taken over as Mayor of Greater Letaba.
- The DA believes nothing materially changes for residents when the same failing political leadership is recycled between municipalities carrying the same fundamental financial problems.
- Greater Letaba and Mopani were both classified by the National Treasury as financially distressed in 2022/23 and 2023/24, and both adopted unfunded 2025/26 budgets.
The DA believes the election of Dagma Mamanyoha as Executive Mayor of Mopani District Municipality and Rosina Ramalatso as Mayor of Greater Letaba will do nothing to address the financial distress and service-delivery challenges confronting both municipalities.
Following Pule Shayi’s elevation to Limpopo MEC for CoGHSTA, the ANC has simply recycled its existing political leadership that was failing Mopani: Shayi to the provincial executive, Mamanyoha from Greater Letaba Municipality to Mopani, and Ramalatso from Chief Whip to the Greater Letaba mayor.
The DA is deeply concerned that rather than providing these municipalities with a reset that improves finances and governance, this reshuffle serves solely to accommodate the ANC’s internal succession arrangements, amid publicly reported contestation over the Mopani mayoralty.
The two new mayors have formed part of the Political Management Team that has overseen terrible financial management and deteriorating services in the municipalities. National Treasury’s latest assessment classifies Greater Letaba and Mopani District municipalities as financially distressed in both 2022/23 and 2023/24, with unfunded budgets for 2025/26
Ramalatso is hardly a fresh pair of hands. She served as Chief Whip under Mamanyoha and previously served as Speaker of Greater Letaba before being recalled and redeployed by the ANC in 2014, during an intervention which the party said was intended to strengthen the functioning and political management of municipal councils and improve councillor performance. Twelve years later, she is back at the head of the same municipality.
Mamanyoha’s move raises an equally obvious concern. Mamanyoha has therefore moved from the political leadership of one financially distressed municipality with an unfunded budget to another facing exactly the same problem, but this time to a district municipality that carries the Water Services Authority responsibility for the entire Mopani district.
We do not believe these appointments will fix Greater Letaba and Mopani District challenges, rather they simply accommodate the ANC’s own internal political machinations.
The DA is committed to building corruption-free and professional municipalities by appointing competent people based on merit not political connections. Residents deserve leadership capable of producing funded budgets, sound financial management, and services that work.