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ATM’s Mncedi Ndzwanana elected as new City of Tshwane speaker
About 211 councillors voted, 105 of which were in favour of Ndzwanana, while Action SA's Kholofelo Morodi only secured 37 votes.
Picture – Twitter @CityTshwane
African Transformation Movement (ATM) councillor Mncedi Ndzwanana has been elected as the new City of Tshwane speaker, beating ActionSA councillor Kholofelo Morodi.
About 211 councillors voted in total with 105 voting in favour of Ndzwanana, while Morodi only secured 37 votes.
There were 69 spoiled ballots, representing another win for the ANC.
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While its unclear why so many ballots were spoilt, but it does equal the number of DA councillors in the Tshwane council.
It’s understood the DA has not accepted the result.
The Tshwane council convened a special meeting on Monday and was chaired by City manager Johann Mettler.
The city’s speaker position became vacant when former Congress of the People (Cope) member Dr Murunwa Makwarela, who has since resigned, was elected executive mayor on 28 February.
Delays
The council sitting was delayed until 7pm after the meeting descended into chaos.
Mettler had convened an emergency meeting with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) as well as chief whips of the political parties in council to decide whether to continue or postpone the vote for a new speaker after the voting process was “compromised”.
It is alleged that a councillor revealed his ballot paper after coming from the IEC’s voting booth.
Following discussions, the city manager said all parties agreed to start afresh.
“The election will continue, but they will continue from scratch. What will remain is the nominations,” he said.
An IEC official indicated that the previous ballot papers have been quarantined.
“We have had a number of problems about the secrecy of the ballot. We want to stress, most importantly, that the agreement with the whips is that anybody who transgress the secrecy as discussed that ballot will be quarantined,” the official said.
The metropolitan muncipality previously could not elect a new speaker after last week’s council sitting failed to reach a quorum.
ActionSA dismisses councillor
Earlier in the day, the council meeting was delayed after councillors from the African National Congress (ANC) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) complained about the news that ActionSA had terminated the membership of its councillor, Nkele Molapo.
Molapo faced a disciplinary hearing following accusations that she had shared information with her husband, former ActionSA member Abel Tau, who left the party last year and has since formed his own party, United Africans Transformation (UAT).
Tau was dismissed in November last year following claims of sexual harassment and allegations that he had abused council resources.
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There was also an accusation Molapo “intimidated” Tshwane caucus members in an attempt to “destabilise the party,” according to ActionSA,.
ActionSA further accused Molapo of “coordinating with some of our councillors who do not support the multi-party coalition’s decision to vote for a new coalition mayor in the City of Tshwane”.
Last week, the party conducted polygraph tests to try identify the councillors who voted to ensure Makwarela’s election as Tshwane mayor.
Legal opinion
Opposition parties defended Molapo during the council sitting, with ANC councillor Moses Maluleke arguing that her membership termination was a constitutional matter.
“One thing we do when we get to the council, is we take an oath. The issue of Molapo is a constitutional matter. Does she owe her allegiance to ActionSA or the council? We are going to speak for Molapo, and she must be protected,” Maluleke said.
“When the DA and ActionSA subject their members to abuse on party matters we can’t interfere on that, but when they’re fickle with council it’s our business.”
Mettler, after receiving a legal opinion on the matter, decided that the sitting should continue as planned to elect a new speaker without Molapo.
“Councillor Molapo should not be allowed to be part of the council meeting. There’s no legal document at this stage to interdict the city council from hold or proceeding with the meeting. The city or city manager will not be in contempt of court if they disallow the applicant to be part of the council meeting and disallow her from voting,” he said.
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