Why Khakhathi is no longer a PAC councillor

Date: 01 July 2011 By: Ndivhuwo Musetha

The dreams of Khakhathi Tshisikule of swapping his musical career for politics has been short-lived as a result of his own ignorance.

Tshisikule, a well-known reggae artist, could not be sworn in as a PAC PR councillor for the Thulamela municipality, because he did not register as voter at his own locality of Mbaleni or Tshikevha.

Tshisikule confirmed to us on Tuesday that he had only registered with the IEC offices in Gauteng during the first election in 1994. The PAC leader in Limpopo, Takalani Ligege, said he became suspicious of Khakhathi´s non-registration with the IEC some few days before the election date, May 18. "I did not see Khakhathi on the voter´s roll of the people who were supposed to vote at Tshikevha. Even the name of our ward councilor-elect, Maluta Mugwedi, was not on that list. When I confronted Khakhathi, he told me he had registered to vote at Mbaleni Primary and I believed him.

"To my surprise, Khakhathi was not allowed to vote on election day, because he had not registered," said Ligege.

Ligege said the matter was brought to the IEC offices in Thulamela by ANC members after the elections. This was after the PAC had received the second most votes in Thulamela, which qualified them to be the official opposition party in the municipality.

No replacement has been found for Khakhathi because the IEC regulations stipulate that the replacement should be done within 72 hours. "We have been trying to find a solution to this matter. Our national office is dealing with it, and we hope it will be solved soon," said Ligege.

Meanwhile, Khakhathi has conceded that it was his own bungling that he could not be sworn as a PR councilor for the PAC. He also conceded that he had misled Ligege about his registration with the IEC. "To be honest with you, I never thought we were going to win a seat in the municipality. Even though I believe in myself, it never crossed my mind that I would be sworn as a PR councillor," said Khakhathi.

Khakhathi, who was recruited to join the PAC eight weeks before the election, said he is happy that he had managed to lobby enough support for the party in such a short space of time. "With my help, the party won some votes and became the official opposition party. Now I have three years to lobby support for the party, which means that we are going to perform better," he added.

"Right now, I will continue educating people about democracy and how they can make it work for them, so that they will be better informed when they vote next time," said Tshisikule.

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Ndivhuwo Musetha

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