In this file photo, councillors are seen in the City of Joburg council chambers, in Braamfontein, on 30 September 2022. Photo: Neil McCartney / The Citizen
Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) leader Julius Malema has rejected calls for the dissolution of City of Johannesburg Council
This comes after the Democratic Alliance (DA) said the party intends on filing a motion to dissolve the council.
“Should our motion succeed, by-elections will be held across Joburg within 90 days, giving voters another chance to elect a new, more stable city council that can begin to rescue our country’s biggest city,” the DA said.
“In the 21 months since the election, Joburg has seen five changes of government and four different mayors, as parties like Al Jama-ah and the Patriotic Alliance sold out to the ANC in an effort to extort maximum patronage,” the DA said.
The DA explained that the only way to bring back stability to the city is by allowing Joburg residents to elect a new government.
However, during the EFF’s briefing on the outcomes of its central command team’s (CCT) meeting on Friday and Saturday, Malema warned the DA the Joburg council will not be dissolved.
“There’s no DA that will dissolve Johannesburg here! If Steenhuisen’s life is dissolved, he must not think that is going to happen in Johannesburg,” Malema told the CCT.
“It’s not going to happen that one. Johannesburg is stable, Johannesburg has got a mayor and the MMCs are up to task and are trying their level best with limited resources and difficulties we are confronted with in Johannesburg.”
ALSO READ: WATCH: Malema tells DA to bring it on – ‘We are not the kingmakers, we are the king’
Meanwhile, Malema said the red berets will take the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) report exonerating President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Phala Phala matter on judicial review.
“The CCT engaged in these critical matters taking into cognisance the fact that in South Africa, state institutions are being abused in protection of one individual, a compromised head of state who is also a money launderer.
“We reject with contempt, the South African Reserve Bank’s cover-up of the Phala Phala crimes and unlawful smuggling and usage of foreign currencies,” Malema said.
“We will take the South African Reserve Bank report on Phala Phala dollars to court for a judicial review because there is evidently an attempt to cover up the crimes committed in Phala Phala and state institutions are being abused in protection of the outgoing president of South Africa,” Malema said.
This follows the SARB’s release of its report clearing Ramaphosa of wrongdoing in the 2020 Phala Phala farm scandal.
The report revealed that Ramaphosa’s Ntaba Nyoni Estate, which owns the Phala Phala game farm, was not “legally entitled” to the $580 000 (R10.8 million) it received from Sudanese businessman Hazim Mustafa for 20 buffalo and because the transaction was not “perfected”.
It also found there was no legal obligation on Ramaphosa or Ntaba Nyoni to have declared the foreign currency under exchange control regulations.
ALSO READ: ‘He wants to be finance minister’: Malema says Reserve Bank governor is protecting Ramaphosa
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
