Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink. Picture Neil McCartney
City of Tshwane’s MMC for Finance Jacqui Uys says the announcement by the ANC in Tshwane regarding a motion of no confidence against mayor Cilliers Brink has nothing to do with service delivery and everything to do with ANC financial interests.
Uys said the attack followed recent changes to the Waste Collection tender, which replaced 60% of the previous waste removal contractors.
“Tender has been a feeding trough for ANC-aligned businesses for years, so the DA anticipated resistance. This resistance manifested in a phone call from ANC Tshwane regional secretary, George Matjila on 16 July,” she said.
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“Matjila expressed his unhappiness with changes to the Waste Collection tender and said the ANC refused to be undermined and would be bringing a motion of no confidence against Brink.”
Uys opened a case at Groenkloof Police Station accusing Matjila last Wednesday of contravening the Prevention of Corrupt Activities Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act.
“This is not about service delivery, but about the ANC retaliating against the DA for cutting off their income sources. Matjila’s motion of no confidence threat over the new waste tender aligns with the mobilization of disqualified waste contractors, indicating a coordinated effort.
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“We’ve already seen violence erupt in Mamelodi and Bronkhorstspruit by contractors with similar interests to Matjila,” she said.
Last week, local business owners gathered at the Tshwane House to get answers after they were excluded from participating in the tender process because of the new regulations.
“They want roadworthy trucks, but their roads were not fixed or completed,” businessman Musa Sibande said.
Sibande said they went into secluded areas without a road to drive on.
Matjila, however, said they didn’t hide their interest as the leadership of the ANC to support local economic development in townships.
“They were told to get new trucks. How is a local subcontractor going to afford a new truck if he doesn’t even have a contract with the city, if the city is not paying the main contractors on time and if he does not have a good relationship?
“The intention is to exclude them. Imagine a local contractor, having worked within his own community, what type of undermining and nonsense is that?” he asked.
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“We will defend our people and won’t allow Brink to bring in his own people in our communities. We support those contractors. Where must they get new trucks to run their businesses?”
Matjila said Brink should rather worry about the roads being fixed.
“If Brink says there are criminals in the contracts, he may lay charges. A person who has had one truck his whole life in the township, now they want to call that person the construction mafia, we are in disagreement. If there are criminals, point them out,” he said.
ANC regional chair and Tshwane caucus leader, Eugene “Bonzo” Modise said the motion of no confidence was due to the mayor’s arrogance and the treatment he is giving our black business people.
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“We are sitting here in Mamelodi, five years without water in Ikageng. When there was a power outage in Wapadrand, the mayor, the city manager and officials went there for a week while the people of Hammanskraal and Bronkhorstspruit still struggle without water,” said Modise.
“We are subjecting our people to risk. There is no refuse removal in the entire city because Brink and his team have made the tender for refuse removal exclusionary and excludes our black entrepreneurs and it is making their lives difficult.”
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