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Tensions continue in Tshwane as DA coalition seek to remove speaker ahead of mayor election
The multi-party coalition is expected to take legal action against Tshwane speaker, Mncedi Ndzwanana.
ATM’s Mncedi Ndzwanana (R) was elected as the City of Tshwane new speaker on 13 March 2023. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
As the City of Tshwane continues to be mayor-less, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and its coalition partners are planning to get rid of the metro’s current speaker.
The Tshwane metropolitan municipality has been without an executive mayor for nearly a month following the resignation of Congress of the People (Cope) member, Dr Murunwa Makwarela over a fake insolvency certificate scandal.
The city has failed to elect a new mayor on two occasions due to brewing tensions among the political parties in council.
On Wednesday, council speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana postponed the mayoral election in order to seek legal opinion on the status of a Cope councillor, who is alleged to have two ID numbers as well as a criminal record.
‘No discretion’
The DA-led multi-party coalition, which includes Action SA, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) and Freedom Front Plus (FF+), have since accused Ndzwanana of unlawfully adjourning the council sitting.
The parties are now seeking to remove the speaker from his position through a motion of no confidence.
“The ANC and EFF [Economic Freedom Fighters] did everything in their powers to stop that vote from taking place. They called for caucus breaks of two or three hours at the same and ultimately the speaker adjourned the meeting without any lawful reason to do so,” ActionSA National Chairperson Michael Beaumont said in a video posted on Twitter.
Beaumont said the coalition nonetheless resolved to asked Ndzwanana to schedule a special mayoral election meeting, but he refused on twice.
ALSO READ: ActionSA believes councillor got R2 million to vote for ex-Tshwane mayor, lays bribery charges
Approximately 108 councillors had to be in support of calling a council sitting in order for the speaker to consider the matter.
“ActionSA, with its coalition partners, wrote to the speaker [telling] him that his adjournment was unlawful and that meeting needed to reconstituted the following day on Thursday. He ignored that request.
“A petition was then signed a majority of councillors from the coalition that called for a special meeting to be held on Friday for the purpose of electing a new mayor and dealing with the motion of no confidence.
“Section 29 of the Municipal Structures Act requires that on presentation of a motion signed by a majority of councillors the speaker must call for that council meeting and he has no discretion whatsoever in refusing to do so [but] he ignored it,” he continued.
No confidence motion
While a council meeting for the mayoral election will take place on Tuesday, the motion of no confidence item has been left out of the agenda, according to Beaumont.
“He is of course conflicted and he is preventing a motion being heard against himself because it directly affects him in the most obvious sense, but also the ANC and EFF’s strategy is to have someone in the chair of speaker who can do their bidding and prevent the majority of this multi-party coalition being brought to bear to elect the mayor.”
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Beaumont further confirmed that the coalition would take legal action against the speaker and city manager, Johann Mettler.
“We will [also] be looking at every possibility where we can ask the court to interdict the adjourning of meetings for unlawful reasons, the disruption of meetings that may to elect a new mayor as well as forcing the motion of no confidence in the speaker on the agenda.”
Ndzwanana was elected as speaker on 14 March beating ActionSA councillor Kholofelo Morodi by 105 votes.
Tshwane to be placed under administration?
Meanwhile, former ActionSA member Abel Tau, who has formed his own party, United Africans Transformation (UAT), has written to Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi asking that the city be placed under administration.
Tau previously called for the metro to undergo “on “fresh elections within 90 days” because he believes the DA has collapsed the city.
WATCH: DA-led coalition confident Cilliers Brink will be elected Tshwane mayor
The Tshwane council needs to elect a new mayor in order to pass the adjustment budget for the 2022/2023 financial year after having missed the 28 February deadline.
The metropolitan municipality has been given until 24 March by Treasury to pass the budget to avoid being placed under administration.
The adjustment budget determines how much more residents will pay for water, electricity, sewage and waste removal.
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