‘Playground of indecisiveness:’ ANC urges Tshwane to reject DA councillor’s resignation retraction

The African National Congress (ANC) have called on the City of Tshwane not to reverse the resignation of Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor, Francois Bekker.

Bekker tendered his resignation to Tshwane city manager Johann Mettler on Tuesday, but later sent another letter rescinding his initial decision.

This is after the DA disputed Bekker’s resignation, saying he remained a councillor in Tshwane.

“I refer to this correspondence and confirm that I am the person authorised by the Democratic Alliance to process resignations. I have not done so in this instance.

“The situation in respect of [councillor] Francois Bekker remains the same. I will inform you if the situation changes. In the meantime, I have not processed any resignation,” DA whip of council Christo van den Heever stated in a letter to Mettler.

‘Unsubstantiated retraction’

However, the ANC in Tshwane has asked Mettler to ignore Bekker’s letter rescinding his resignation and continue to declare a vacancy of his position to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) as required by the law.

A vacancy declaration for Bekker’s position should have been swiftly responded to by Mettler as required by the Municipal Structures Act.

“It is worth noting that [councillor] Bekker has resigned out of his own volition with a clear conscience and cannot willy-nilly and stonewall the commencement of the process to fulfill the vacancy.

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“We are aware of the undue pressure exerted by his party as related to their apprehension of their reduced majority in council,” ANC councillor Aaron Maluleka said in a letter on Wednesday.

Legislative abuses

Maluleka said the DA pushed to have his resignation reversed because it would have impacted the multiparty coalition numbers in the council ahead of the motion of no confidence vote against council speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana, which has been scheduled for 12 April.

“We take a dim view of legislative abuses wherein councillors can tender their resignation and then later cause for their unsubstantiated retraction as if council is a playground of indecisiveness.

“This I wish to posit is a practice that shouldn’t be condoned as it is likely to plunge council into disrepute and further cartoon its standing,” he added.

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Former Tshwane mayor Randall Williams’ two conflicting resignation letters was also previously disputed.

Williams resigned from his position on 13 February.

However, he later changed his resignation to come into effect on 28 February, but the  Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) insisted that the DA councillor’s first letter was valid.

Speaker motion

The DA multiparty coalition in Tshwane launched an urgent court challenge against Ndzwanana, who was elected on 14 March.

In its papers, the parties are seeking an interdict against the speaker to prevent him from chairing the meeting.

The coalition also wants Ndzwanana, the ANC, EFF and other minority parties prohibited from inciting violence or disrupting the meeting.

READ MORE: ‘This meeting is illegal’: Tshwane speaker adjourns sitting to vote on his own removal

“We will continue to litigate to ensure that the meetings are not disrupted and that any person who attempts to do so is held in contempt of court,” the parties said in a joint statement.

The matter will be argued in the Pretoria High Court a day before the council sitting on 11 April.

The coalition previously clashed with Ndzwanana for his refusal to call a meeting to hear the motion.

He had adjourned a council sitting on 27 March, claiming it was illegal.

According to the speaker, the coalition partners had allegedly submitted a petition to call for the sitting with questionable signatures.