DA had no intention to support ActionSA candidate for Tshwane speaker – EFF

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Tshwane says it believes the Democratic Alliance (DA) had no intention of backing ActionSA’s candidate to takeover as council speaker of the metro.

ActionSA’s Kholofelo Morodi, who was endorsed by the multi-party coalition partners, lost out on the speaker position to African Transformation Movement (ATM) councillor Mncedi Ndzwanana.

Morodi received 37 votes, while Ndzwanana edged out the ActionSA councillor by 105 votes.

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The voting process, which took place via secret ballot, resulted in the DA’s ballots being disregarded by Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The IEC disqualified the 69 votes after the DA councillors marked their ballots with allocated numbers, instead of the usual “X”.

This meant Morodi would have won by 106 votes if the disqualified votes were counted.

‘Extremely toxic and abusive’

Reacting to the outcome, the EFF accused the DA of following its own voting rules, which were not in line with IEC’s electoral guidelines.

The Red Berets said the DA instructing its councillors to vote using numbers for identification purposes was inconsistent with the rules in the Electoral Observer Handbook of 2021.

“Consequently, the DA protested the outcome of the election having failed dismally. The concept of democracy has become elusive to the DA. In their self-glorification of constitutionalism and upholding the rule of law, it appears this principle does not apply to their own councilors.

“The councillors of the multiparty have been victimised in the secret ballot saga through polygraph tests and voter identification numbers as seen recently. The level of mistrust in the DA has reached disproportionate levels,” the party said in a statement.

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“How then can the multiparty govern the city effectively? Their treatment of coalition partners has become extremely toxic and abusive. Democracy in the DA is nothing more than a dream that has vanished into thin air.

“The party might as well change its name to the ‘Autocratic Alliance’. The degree of self-entitlement in the DA is relatively close to a case of mental derangement, as they think everything in the city is about them.”

The EFF said it was of the view that the DA had no intention of supporting Morodi “because their candidate did not get the mayorship”.

“In their misguided sense of entitlement, they did not support the candidate for the position contested,” the party continued. ActionSA and the rest of the coalition partners must peacefully accept they are subordinate to the DA and nothing is going to change that position.”

New mayor

Meanwhile, Ndzwanana’s election will pave the way for the city to elect a new mayor following Congress of the People (Cope) councillor Dr Murunwa Makwarela’s resignation.

Makwarela resigned both as mayor and PR councillor last Friday after submitting what has since been declared a fraudulent rehabilitated certificate for his insolvency.

The city still needs to pass the adjustment budget.

Treasury gave the metropolitan municipality until 24 March to pass the budget to avoid being placed under administration, according to City of Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba.

NOW READ: City of Tshwane ‘at risk of being placed under administration’