ANC attempts motion of no confidence in Mayor Gray

What should have been a special meeting to adjust the Mogale City Local Municipality budget quickly turned into a surprise attack by the opposition after the ANC attempted to table a vote of no confidence against Executive Mayor, Councillor Tyrone Gray.

Gray spoke to the News and said the special council meeting was called to adjust the budget.

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This was required for the service delivery module as well as other reports such as the creation of a special economic zone, and Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) reports and to amend the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP). However, he said the notice to convene the meeting was not found in order because the ANC attempted to table a motion of no confidence.

As Gray explained there are, however, processes that have to be followed.

“For instance in our rules, they must serve at an ordinary council where as this was a special council meeting. An ordinary council is called every quarter.”

He added this means they are hampering service delivery because according to him they are impatient and need to wait for the due processes to unfold.

We have seen this happen in Joburg and it went into litigation and it went into court and it was ruled that proper processes must be followed especially with the removal of an executive mayor or any other office bearer.”

The special council meeting for the budget amendment will not reconvene in seven days.

However, Councillor Merriam Mogoje, Chief Whip for the ANC said the ANC in Mogale City had submitted a motion of intention to remove the Executive Mayor on February 10 already.

“This motion was submitted in accordance with Section 58 of the Local Government Municipal Structure s Act 117 of 1998; and Rule 30 of Council Rules of Orders as published on the 23rd of September 2020.”

She added that in a video being circulated, Gray lies about them wanting to bypass council processes. Mogoje said the motion was submitted in accordance with rule 30 which states that a motion must be submitted 10 days before the council seating it is intended to serve, and this motion was served 18 days ago.

The DA minority government’s nefarious attempts to cling to power included circumventing council processes by the Speaker to exclude the motion of intention to remove the Executive Mayor and pushing for a budget that would allow them to misuse public funds without being held accountable.”

Mogoje said that according to the Auditor General’s findings for the fiscal year 2022/2023 the municipality cannot account for over R4 billion in assets and an effective internal system of internal control is not in place.

“The Auditor General discovered evidence that the municipality’s cash flow statements may have been manipulated. The DA minority government is refusing to account for the municipality’s regressed audit findings. It would therefore be an indictment for a mayor who presided over a municipality that received a Qualified Audit Opinion to then want to preside over the municipality’s budget without being held accountable.”

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She said the majority of the councillors did request that the motion is tabled but accused the Speaker of adjourning the council seating in an attempt to defend one of her own.

“The ANC reaffirms its commitment to hold the DA minority administration accountable and to protect the municipality from malfeasance, noncompliance with relevant legislation, and DA maladministration.”

The ANC claims further that service delivery has dropped from 80% under them to less than 50% under the DA, that the ANC had allocated R20 million towards Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in the 2021/2022 budget and that the DA removed this allocation and plans on dismissing 789 EPWP participants in four months. They also claim that Eskom had served MCLM with a summons for non-payment and that the municipality now owes Rand Water R80 million.

“The people of Mogale City must understand that the municipality is to blame for some of the power outages, particularly in Mogale-supplied areas, and for some of the water outages.

We have accepted today that the DA is currently in denial, but the reality will soon set in that they have wasted the opportunity given to them by various parties to govern Mogale City. Making a video and saying ‘dumelang bagolo’ will no longer help to win over residents of Mogale City Local Municipality.”

In the video that was released by Gray, he said it is concerning that political parties play political games thus holding the community at ransom and that the coalition is committed to ensuring the stabilisation of finances. He said by April the Eskom account will have stabilised.

“We are currently servicing the current account and the inherited arrears will also be paid off roughly about by April. The multi-party coalition is still committed to service delivery and we implore all parties to put their political affiliations aside and ensure that the community get their much-needed service to deliver.”