Tshwane ANC Chair Dr Kgosi Maepa during a press briefing at Tshwane House, 25 November 2019, Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles
ANC Tshwane chairperson Dr Kgosi Maepa told reporters that the DA wants “nothing to do with the EFF and black political parties” during a briefing to outline the party’s strategy to remove Tshwane mayor Stevens Mokgalapa and other DA presiding officers through no-confidence votes.
Maepa alleges the “DA witch” – referring to what Tshwane speaker Katlego Mathebe was called in audio which was leaked, allegedly revealing Mokgalapa having sex with former Tshwane MMC Sheila Senkubuge and insulting several colleagues – is not a loyal DA member.
According to Maepa, she has been running an anti-Mokgalapa campaign in the DA to finish him off and make sure that he is ejected before the end of January 2020.
He claims Mathebe was in talks with Helen Zille in an attempt to convince her to accept a new relationship with the EFF to form a coalition government in Tshwane.
“Even after Helen told her that she wants nothing to do with the EFF and black political parties. Helen Zille and John Steenhuisen share the latter view about the EFF and black political parties in general but the DA witch doesn’t want to listen, because of her uncontrollable ambition to become the next executive mayor by hook or by crook.”
The ANC accuses Mathebe of insisting that she has the capacity to hoodwink the EFF into a new deal and sweet talk or mislead them into believing the DA is genuine.
“She is apparently offering the EFF MMC positions and some deals and money if they agree.
“Katlego ‘the DA witch’ Mthebe has previously applied for the position of Tshwane Mayor and lost to Mokgalapa – she also tried many times to dethrone Solly Msimanga – she is desperate to become mayor and she will do anything.”
Maepa maintains that Mathebe was using the troubles of Mokgalapa as an opportunity for her to emerge as the next mayor of Tshwane.
The Tshwane ANC caucus met on Tuesday to highlight their request, calling for the speaker to allow a special council meeting on Wednesday.
Together with the EFF, the ANC submitted a co-signed petition to Mathebe, for her to call a council meeting to deal with council business and important matters in a set agenda.
The speaker, after thoroughly examining the documents supporting the petition, found seven signatures in the ANC caucus document that did not match the signatures in the files of the council meeting’s attendance registers.
“The same document also looks like a copy and paste of the signatures that were submitted to support the request of the meeting of the 5 December 2019. Both these issues render the ANC document improper legally. The EFF document has only 25 signatures which do not satisfy the requirements of Section 29(1) Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998. Therefore she resolved that she cannot legally convene the Special Council Meeting as per the request of the ANC and the EFF.
“The Speaker also resolved to investigate if certain councillors did not contravene the Councillors Code of Conduct in this matter because it is important that Councillors conduct the business of council with honesty and integrity at all times,” said a statement.
A source confirmed that there would be no sitting convened by the speaker on Wednesday.
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.