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Johannesburg - The DA has decided to withdraw from political activities in Mogalakwena Municipality in Limpopo, it said on Friday.
"This is due to the ANC political squabbling and instability in the municipality that has halted all the basic services," DA Councillor David Phokela said in a statement.
Earlier this month police escorted nine former councillors from the council buildings in what the DA's police spokesperson Dianne Kohler Barnard described as a "coup d'etat" at the municipality.
Limpopo police, however, said the nine had been unsuccessful in a high court challenge to their dismissals but still refused to leave the premises.
On 22 August, the ANC said its national disciplinary committee (NDC) had dismissed an application by 22 Mogalakwena councillors for a review of their expulsions from the party.
They were suspended after reports that they attended a council meeting with opposition parties in April, where discussions around removing the mayor, chief whip, and some members of the executive committee, were held.
In this week's by-elections, the ANC won all 13 wards in Mogalakwena following the expulsions.
Phokela said the DA would resume political activities in the municipality once the situation normalised.
"We cannot afford to be caught in the middle of political squabbles and be used by other political parties to fight their own battles."
DA councillors in the area would continue to provide
their services to voters and address any issue residents raised.
