Tshwane speaker convenes special council meeting, sets record straight

Tshwane Speaker Katlego Mathebe has convened a special council meeting for Thursday, 16 January at 10am at Thswane House Council Chamber.

This comes after two failed attempts by the EFF and ANC to convene a special council meeting to oust the DA leadership in Tshwane, and the two parties issuing threats of legal action.

The Office of the Speaker said in a statement that given the constructs that the ANC and EFF caucuses have been creating in the public domain suggesting that she is denying to convene such a meeting as per their request, the office “deems it to put things in perspective”.

ALSO READ: Second attempt at Tshwane council meeting fails – EFF and ANC threaten legal action

“The Speaker received a petition on the 03 January 2020 from both caucuses requesting a meeting with only 25 signatures that were in the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) document (refer to the the media briefing of the 07 January 2020 on the same matter). The two caucuses jointly submitted a new request with fresh signatures on the 08 January 2020 at 13:49 requesting a Special Council Meeting for the same afternoon at 17:00. The Speaker declined to call the meeting within those tight timelines due to logistical inhibitions,” the statement read.

“Because the ANC and EFF failed to determine what would be a reasonable time for the meeting since her last correspondence to them on the 08 January 2020, she has for the sake of progress decided to convene the requested Special Council Meeting,” the statement concluded.

It has been a week-long battle by the ANC and EFF to sit for the special council meeting where the two parties would again try to oust Mathebe and Mayor Stevens Mokgalapa.

This after the North Gauteng High Court had in December suspended all council resolutions from 5 December, where Mokgalapa and Mathebe were voted out in no-confidence motions.

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