FF+ councillor forced out of meeting

This election has certainly had its fair share of surprises, but no one could foresee the events that would take place on Wednesday.

August 26, 2016

Ghia ten Doeschate 2 minutes read

The marks left on Amanda de Lange's neck after she was forcefully escorted out of council.

Amanda de Lange, the local Freedom Front Plus (FF+) councillor, was forcefully removed from a West Rand District Municipality Council meeting on Wednesday 24 August, and the day’s events certainly left their mark.

The 2016 elections have had their fair share of drama, with the EFF and DA joining forces to bring about the dawn of a new era – a DA run municipality for most of South Africa.

The drama continued at the election of the Council Whip, Speaker, district representatives and Mayor on Thursday 18 August, as Lynn Pannall of the DA was elected as the new Executive Mayor of Mogale City, much to the ANC’s disappointment. The ANC’s Sipho Dube was elected as Council Whip, although the circumstances surrounding the vote counting were slightly suspicious, as the EFF and FF+ pointed out. They requested a revote, but the request was denied.

Council then proceeded to vote for the district representatives, and the FF+ received two seats. Shortly after the results were announced, an IEC official announced that they had made a mistake and the FF+ only had one seat.

On Friday 19 August, the first official council sitting took place, and just before the meeting was set to begin, De Lange was told that an IEC official wanted to see her. He then proceeded to tell her that there had been another mistake, and that the FF+ had no seats.

“According to the law, the correct procedure for this is to have it go through the IEC in court, with the leaders of the FF+ present, and they would then give me the directive,” De Lange said. This did not happen.

The following Wednesday (24 August), another council meeting was held, and Amanda decided to go to the meeting in order to voice her concerns, and then leave. Unfortunately, as soon as she raised her hand to make an announcement, security was called. They then grabbed her wrists and proceeded to punch her. According to De Lange, the ANC and IEC officials just sat and watched the entire ordeal.

Thankfully, Dennis Pretorius, from the DA, stepped in to calm the situation.

The News contacted the IEC about the situation, but was told that they are unable to comment on the events that transpired, and that an official release would be sent out shortly.

This event comes just after a press release entitled ANC pulling dirty tricks in Mogale City was sent out by the DA. It states that “Since a DA Mayor was elected in the municipality, the former ruling party has shown their desperation by spreading a message among their supporters and officials that their mayoral candidate, Bertha Mabe, will be installed as the mayor and that Councillor Pannall, who was democratically elected, will be removed” and that “The DA is consulting with its legal advisers and preparing itself to prevent any undemocratic attempt at stealing power and therefore by-passing the will of the people”.