Thabani Nyawose, eThekwini Municipality speaker during the State Of The City Address at International Convention Centre (ICC) on 31 May 2022, in Durban. Picture: Gallo Images/Darren Stewart
The eThekwini Municipality’s first council meeting of the year on Thursday was off to a shaky start as it collapsed.
The council meeting was set to elect a new deputy mayor, among other positions, after Philani Mavundla’s removal from office in December last year.
However, the meeting had to be cancelled after councillors from the African National Congress (ANC) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) failed to show up.
According to the speaker of council, Thabani Nyawose, at least 112 councillors needed to attend the meeting to reach quorum.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has since accused the ANC and EFF of deliberately collapsing the meeting.
“Of serious concern is the disappearance of the City manager, Musa Mbhele, who similarly did not turn up for the council meeting. It seems that Mbhele is being allowed to be drawn into ANC faction politics through his non-attendance,” DA eThekwini leader, Thabani Mthethwa said in a statement.
“The DA finds this move by both parties and the City manager disgraceful. The City manager must face disciplinary action by the eThekwini council for his gross misconduct today.
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“As a result, we will request speaker Thabani Nyawose to investigate the ANC and EFF’s conduct in terms of Item 15 of the councillors code of conduct, as well as being referred to the ethics committee.”
Mthethwa also bemoaned the wasteful expenditure as a result of the postponed meeting, which could cost taxpayers about R500 000.
“This reckless behaviour by the ANC, EFF, and other smaller parties, along with the City manager, is wasteful as holding such meetings at the ICC [International Convention Centre] costs the municipality [plus minus] R500 000 a time,” he added.
Nyawose told the media on Thursday that he would meet with the chief whips of all political parties.
“The EFF and the ANC and some councillors from this side, I will sit down with them and register my concern as the speaker on behalf of the people of eThekwini and the councillors,” he said.
The meeting is expected to be reconvened within a week’s time.
“The eThekwini Municipality full council meeting was adjourned this morning, as it could not meet a quorum as a result of two main parties not being present. In terms of the council rules, the meeting will be reconvened in the next seven days,” the municipality’s statement reads.
eThekwini mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, refused to say why the ANC did not attend Thursday’s meeting despite party councillors being present at the venue.
“We are addressing the challenges of water [and] sanitation. We opened more beaches, we opened more swimming pools so that’s service delivery. We are busy closing potholes as we speak. We are hard at work. Thanks very much this media briefing is over,” he told reporters at the ICC in Durban.
After Nyawose had adjourned the meeting, ANC councillors returned and sang – “Oliver Tambo bamba isandla sam”.
READ MORE: Opposition parties react to eThekwini mayor calling them ‘unpatriotic’
Meanwhile, Kaunda is facing a motion of no confidence.
The motion was by the Active Citizens Coalition (ACC) on Wednesday.
In a letter written to Nyawose, ACC councilors, Muhammed Ismail and Imitiaz Syed, stated the decision to table a motion to remove Kaunda as a member of the executive committee of the council as well as being the mayor was in line with the Municipal Structures Act.
A council meeting on the urgent motion against Kaunda has been set for 31 January.
The motion will be tabled next Tuesday.
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