Pretoria - The speaker of Tshwane council, Mncedi Ndzwanana, is expected to convene another special meeting to elect a new mayor this week.
This comes after Friday’s council sitting collapsed, after councillors from a multiparty coalition staged a walkout after Ndzwanana refused to obtain a legal opinion on the legitimacy of two axed ActionSA councillors and a recalled Cope councillor to take part in council proceedings.
Ndzwanana adjourned the meeting because it didn’t form a quorum as there were only 106 councillors left behind and short of at least two councillors to make 108 for the required quorum.
The Friday council sitting was characterised by drama when ActionSA expelled two of its councillors – Mandla Mhlana and Mpho Baloyi – while they were already inside the council chamber.
The pair were said to have betrayed the party mandate by voting for former Cope councillor Dr Murunwa Makwarela as mayor instead of DA caucus leader Cilliers Brink.
ActionSA said the termination of membership of the two councillors arose directly from the investigation and lie detector test that confirmed they voted for Makwarela on February 28.
Makwarela stepped down on March 10 after it was found that he submitted a fake insolvency rehabilitation certificate to city manager Johann Mettler in an attempt to be reinstated as mayor, after he was disqualified as a councillor following news that the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, declared him insolvent in 2016.
In another surprising move Cope, which had just introduced Makwarela’s replacement, Justice Thabang Sefanyetso, decided to recall the same councillor just minutes after he was welcomed in council.
Cope said the vetting processes revealed that Sefanyetso, who was submitted to the IEC list by the Tshwane region, was in possession of two IDs and also has a criminal record.
Tshwane’s multiparty coalition, which included the DA, ActionSA, FF-Plus, ACDP and IFP, accused the speaker of refusing to act on the requirement to remove terminated former councillors from the chamber.
Coalition partners said Ndzwanana refused to act on the vacancies, claiming not to have received the official note despite that ActionSA and Cope had communicated the withdrawal of their councillors.
“The coalition observed that the ongoing presence of these councillors, whose memberships had been terminated, was unlawful and likely to have a material impact on the election of the mayor.
“It is suspected that allowing these councillors to vote was an essential component in the plan of the ANC and EFF to have their candidate elected to the position of mayor of Tshwane and to co-ordinate this along with the ANC’s march to the council chamber – an act consistent with the intimidation we have seen in previous council meetings,” the coalition said in a media statement.
They vowed to fight for the residents of Tshwane “to ensure that the election result of 2021 is not stolen, to ensure that this coalition returns to office and that we get Tshwane back on track to the benefit of all of its residents”.
EFF councillor Godwin Ratikwane said the departure of coalition members from the council meant they were left on the battlefield, where they were supposed to “fight in council until we find a mayor”.
“It has been long overdue since we don’t have a mayor. Now because they want to fight for positions and get these mayoral MMCs they want to do everything in their power to collapse the council if the numbers don’t favour them.
“They are already purging councillors. We have two additional councillors that have been purged; last time it was councillor Nkele Molapo,” he said.
ANC regional chairperson Eugene “Bonzo” Modise said ActionSA councillors remained in council because their seats were not officially declared vacant.
“We counted our numbers, we are 106 and they knew that we wouldn’t form a quorum.
“But they are scared to go to a secret ballot. This is against the order which was given in favour of them when the court said we must not walk out of council; we must remain in council to exhaust all items of the council,” he said.
Modise said the DA-led coalition planned the walkout before Friday’s meeting.
“We had information that they had a meeting in the morning to disrupt the process,” he said.
The ANC and EFF are expected to support a sole PAC councillor, Molwantwa Tshabadi, as a mayoral candidate to go head-to-head with DA caucus leader Cilliers Brink, who is the preferred candidate for the multiparty coalition.
Pretoria News