DA-led coalition pushes Tshwane speaker to reconvene sitting to elect mayor
The Democratic Alliance (DA)-led multi-party government has given Tshwane speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana until Thursday to reconvene the council meeting set to elect a new mayor or face further action.
In statement following the indefinite adjournment of Wednesday’s council meeting, the multiparty coalition said the Ndzwanana’s decision was unlawful, further claiming the decision was influenced by the “certain defeat” faced by the African National Congress (ANC) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
“The decision to terminate was unlawful and arose directly because the ANC and EFF faced certain defeat in the election of the Mayor. This follows a period of time in which councillors in the coalition have been removed and replaced for collaborating with the ANC and EFF, effectively ending their artificially bought majority,” the statement read.
Speaking to media at Tshwane house, the DA’s Kwena Moloto said the reason given for the postponement was not sufficient.
“There are only two reasons that council can be adjourned; the one is if there’s violent action taking place and the other is if the quorum is not met. Neither of those two things were issues today. The decision by the speaker to adjourn council is completely politically motivated.”
The multiparty coalition said should Ndzwanana fail to reconvene the meeting on Thursday, further steps will be taken in terms of Section 29 of the Municipal Structures Act and approaching the courts if necessary.
“In addition to this important step, the multi-party coalition has signed a further petition, once again signed by a majority of councillors, which will convene a council meeting on Friday to consider a motion of no confidence in the Speaker. This is necessary to remove the ANC and EFF grasp on the City of Tshwane and the unlawful abuse of council to bring further instability and chaos to a municipality that needs services,” the multiparty coalition states.
THE SPEAKER IS A PERSON OF THE LAW
The ANC’s George Matjila said the speaker should be allowed to seek legal advice to avoid a repeat of the Makwarela matter.
“The speaker has always sought legal opinion. Remember last week the DA-led coalition decided to walk out of council without saying a word. The speaker is a man of the law, he needs to run that council in terms of the law.”
He denied claims they are buying time because the numbers are currently not in their favour.
The EFF’s Godwin Ratikwana said they supported the adjournment to allow Cope to deal with its internal issues.
“We believe that Cope must be given time to sort out its internal affairs. We don’t want to enter into any party-political issues within Cope. It’s not our place. What we are interested in as the EFF is service delivery and to make sure that there’s stability in council.”
