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The new mayor of Enoch Mgijima municipality Madoda Papiyana.
- Madoda Papiyana was elected as mayor of the Enoch Mgijima municipality on Thursday.
- He made national headlines during the hard lockdown when he was arrested for drunk driving.
- The DA said it would register its disgust over the election of Papiyana.
The DA in the Eastern Cape says it is disgusted by the election of the ANC's Madoda Papiyana as the mayor of the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality, despite his record of being arrested twice during the two-year Covid-19 lockdown.
Papiyana was arrested for driving drunk and transporting liquor, in violation of lockdown regulations.
Papiyana, who is the ANC's deputy secretary in the Chris Hani region, was elected as the new mayor of the embattled municipality during a special council meeting on Thursday.
His election followed the resignation of the former mayor, Thembeka Bunu, earlier that day.
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The DA in the Eastern Cape is up in arms, and threatened to write to Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Zolile Williams to express their "utter disgust" at the appointment.
Papiyana, an influential leader in the Chris Hani region, one of the biggest ANC voting districts in the province, is one of the closest allies of Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane.
The DA's Jane Cowley questioned the ANC for "rewarding" Papiyana with the position, despite condemning his behaviour in the strongest terms when he was arrested in 2020 and 2021.
Cowley said:
The ANC must understand one thing: people are tired of supporting a party that is hellbent on protecting and promoting unscrupulous and corrupt cadres at the expense of service delivery. Komani, a once thriving and beautiful town, is now a cesspool of filth, sewage and collapsed infrastructure.
In April 2020, Papiyana was arrested on a drunk driving charge and for allegedly violating Level 5 lockdown regulations by transporting liquor.
In that 17 April 2020 incident, Papiyana was arrested for allegedly attempting to flee a roadblock outside Elliot.
He was charged with contravening the Disaster Management Act and was later released on R1 000 bail.
He was forced to step down from his positions as ANC chief whip in the Chris Hani District and as the party's regional treasurer.
However, he was later reinstated to those positions after the charges against him were provisionally withdrawn by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Less than a year later, Papiyana was again arrested over the Easter weekend of 2021 for allegedly driving under the influence, the Eastern Cape police confirmed.
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At the time, SAPS said the 38-year-old was among the 94 arrested for drunken driving on the night, at about 20:00, and he paid bail of R500.
The NPA could not immediately confirm whether the case was still before the courts. Its response will be added once received.
Cowley said the DA would continue to fight for the rights of all citizens in the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality to access basic services, as enshrined in the Constitution.
News24 approached Papiyana for comment, but he failed to respond, despite promising to do so.
His comment will be added if received.
The ANC's Eastern Cape provincial secretary, Lulama Ngcukayithobi, and chairperson of the party in the province, Oscar Mabuyane, could not immediately comment on the matter.
Their responses will be added once received.
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