Tshwane ANC denies attacking council speaker as city prepares to lay charges
The ANC in Tshwane has denied that some of its councillors assaulted Speaker Murunwa Makwarela during a council meeting on Tuesday.
The city’s coalition government claims some ANC councillors physically attacked the speaker.
Video footage from the council show the councillors pushing and shoving each other while engaging in a heated debate.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Tshwane mayoral spokesperson Sipho Stuurman accused the ANC councillors of attempting to disrupt the proceedings with their "aggressive and violent behaviour".
"Despite numerous attempts to bring calm and order, the speaker was violently assaulted by ANC councillors who can been seen in various video footage physically attacking the speaker while members of the coalition attempted to defend him.
“Furthermore, when the speaker announced that the meeting would carry on virtually, he was further assaulted as he was repeatedly hit in the head and back while he sought to leave the chamber.
“The relevant ANC councillors have been identified and criminal charges will be laid against them," says Stuurman.
He says the ANC has repeatedly made threats to take legal action against online council meetings.
"However, they failed to follow the legal challenge route and ultimately resorted to violence.
It is clear that the ANC wants to destabilise the City by preventing Council from sitting with their violence that seeks to serve their own political interests at the expense of Tshwane residents.”
The coalition leaders will be laying criminal charges against ANC councillors at the Brooklyn police station on Thursday.
But Tshwane ANC councillor Kgosi Maepa refuted the claims, saying chaos erupted after the ANC refused to sign off on an R1 billion expenditure tabled by the DA.
"I can tell you that there was no one who beat up anyone yesterday, if there is anyone who beat up anyone it must be visible, we must see somebody beating someone or someone must have blood, and somebody must come and say I was assaulted here, but the speaker was never touched by anyone.
“The speaker was not beaten up, the DA is just trying to create an issue because their R1 billion was not approved yesterday.
“They wanted R1 billion to be approved, to spend on their Christmas extravaganza, but it was not approved.”
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