The DA in the metro has laid the blame for the chaos of Thursday’s council meeting, held in the Germiston Council Chambers, squarely on council Speaker Patricia Kumalo.
The meeting was heated from the start, with an altercation between councillor for the IRASA Izak Berg and ANC councillor Robert Mashego.
During the altercation Berg offended Kumalo when he pointed angrily at her.
After making it clear that she would not allow any man to disrespect her, Kumalo adjourned the meeting, for a short period, to allow her a moment to regain her thoughts.
The chaos continued when the DA took offence to comments from ANC councillor Doctor Xhakaza.
The MMC for water and energy allegedly called African members of the DA “fronts”, causing the DA chief whip, André du Plessis to raise an objection by way of a point of order.
“The Speaker would not entertain the idea that the ANC was out of order and cited that this was a political debate and that the DA should be quiet,” said Fortune Mahano, DA leader in the metro.
“She then allowed the speaker to continue and the debate descended into chaos when Clr Xhakaza said it was a proven fact that the DA would ‘bring back apartheid’.
“The DA sees this unashamed racism in an extremely serious light and will not tolerate being attacked in this manner.”
The DA alleged that, in the past, Kumalo has ruled the DA out of order for using words like ”nonsense” and ”waffle” during the political debate as offensive language.
“This obvious bias shows that the Speaker does not understand her role and cannot be objective.
“This is not the first time the DA has called for the removal of the Speaker,” said Mahano
The meeting ended with the DA walking out of the council chambers.
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