ANC and EFF ready for round two to oust DA in Tshwane

The ANC and EFF have gone into a marriage of convenience to oust the entire DA-led exco in Pretoria.

ANC regional chairperson Kgosi Maepa detailed plans to shake up Tshwane with motions of no confidence against embattled mayor Stevens Mokgalapa and his entire mayoral committee with the intention to oust the DA from the metro.

Kicking off the bold plan, the two parties wrote to speaker Katlego Mathebe demanding the motions be discussed on Wednesday. The letter was accompanied by a petition signed by 89 councillors from both parties.

The DA holds a majority in the council with 93 seats, followed by the ANC with 89 and EFF, who have set themselves as kingmakers in hung metros, with 25.

Maepa said the ANC had given the speaker until Tuesday to respond. However, she has not yet done so.

With motions against the mayor, speaker and her deputy, the ANC said it had also copied Gauteng Cogta MEC Lebogang Maile in its letter.

Coincidentally, Maile has expressed his intention to place the metro under administration. The DA has vowed to fight him even to the extent of going to the courts, its Gauteng leader John Moodey told journalists at a briefing on Monday. The party has accused Maile of an attempted coup.

“Section 25 of the Municipal Structures Act is very clear on the process that should be followed in the absence of a council speaker, and we will follow the letter of the law to make sure that the council is properly constituted should the speaker use delaying tactics and disregard her constitutional obligation of calling a council meeting as petitioned,” Maepa said.

The act states a municipal manager of the municipality or, if the municipal manager is not available, a person designated by the MEC for local government in the province, presides over the election of a speaker.

Late last year, the two parties passed a motion of no confidence against the speaker and mayor. The DA, however, ran to the courts to challenge the council seating, saying the election was unlawful.

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria suspended the council election and the case is expected to be heard sometime during the year.

“Under Mokgalapa, we saw increased corruption, maladministration and malfeasance. Mokgalapa failed to stop the R12bn GladAfrica corruption.”

Accusing Mokgalapa of failing to curtail corruption of R30bn, Maepa said the mayor, who is currently on special leave, was “outstanding as a stupendous gimmick for the DA”.

Mokgalapa was put on special leave pending an investigation after an audio recording surfaced of him purportedly engaging in an intimate act with then-transport MMC Sheila Senkubuge, who has since resigned.

In the recording, which was widely circulated on social media, the two office bearers could also be heard discussing their colleagues in the council. The City’s ethics committee was also conducting an investigation which the speaker commissioned, Moodey said.

Maepa has, however, disputed this, saying no ethics committee had been called to investigate the shamed mayor. He said he had no record of the investigation contained in the ethics committee’s books, adding that the DA was just blowing hot air.

“The ANC can confirm the DA told a blue lie as there is no investigation in council.”

Asked if the ANC would field a candidate, Maepa said the Tshwane metro would be run by a multi-party government.

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