DA, EFF and Cope in Kimberley to lay charges against council Speaker

Sol Plaatjie Municipality councillors from the DA, Cope and the EFF will on Monday jointly lay criminal charges against the acting Speaker of the council, Ben Springbok, for his failure to act in accordance with the Municipal Structures Act and for failing to protect councillors from the opposition against serious, severe threats of violence.

This after councillors reportedly threw water bottles and cans of energy drinks at each other during a special council meeting today to elect a new mayor for Kimberley.

The meeting was convened following the resignation of Mangaliso Matika in the wake of community protests calling for him to step down.

The DA said in a statement today that the chaos in council chambers was a sign of the “ANC’s deep-seated disrespect for democracy. The acting Speaker was completely unwilling to bring control to proceedings”.

The party said: “Councillors from the ANC were also unwilling to display leadership and could not keep their supporters in the public gallery from disrupting proceedings. The public gallery was packed with ANC supporters in their regalia, who threw plastic bottles at opposition councillors and who were overheard threatening to commit violence.”

The DA said it was worrying that the municipality’s security guards stood idly by and were unwilling to act against those who were openly committing criminal acts.

“It is a sign of the collapse of leadership in the municipality and the development of an administration where staff are too afraid to even do their jobs, as they fear political consequences for doing the right thing.

“It would be fruitless to request the intervention of the MEC for COGHSTA, Bentley Vass. He has already been asked repeatedly to bring stability to the rapidly deteriorating municipality, but his loyalty to the ANC has stopped him from doing so. He has also bent over backwards to delay the finalization of the section 106 investigation.

“As leaders of the opposition, we will jointly hold the leadership of the ANC accountable for its misdeeds in council,” the DA said.

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