anc councillors in the troubled mnquma local municipality had been involved in continuous infighting and court battles since the days of the controversial mayor anthony bam. this led to the then butterworth municipality being taken over by the provincial government and the national council of provinces in terms of section 139 of the constitution in 1996. as the first municipality to be run under this arrangement in the history of the democratic south africa, then local government mec smuts ngonyama ""put aside the councillors and removed bam while installing an administrator to run the affairs of the municipality.” in march 2009, sicelo shiceka, the late minister of cooperative gorvenance and traditional affairs, accompanied by the then mec for lcoal government, tokozile xasa, placed the municipality under administration citing corruption and maladministration. that only lasted for a week as anc councillors contested and won that in courts. the intervention by the national government in 2009 sparked calls for the formation of mnquma concerned residents which pressed for more transparency and service delivery. from the mayors anthony bam to ndileka ndindwa and from ndyebo skelenge to mabone duna. from mbasa ntongana to nomlindo dyantyi and bhabha ganjana (current mayor). all of them had never had stability. they had to convince courts of their legitimacy to be mayors fit to hold offices.