ANC councillors staged a walkout of a city council sitting on 27 September after complaining of a ‘smelly attitude’ that they continuously receive in council from the governing party, the DA.
Speaking on behalf of the ANC caucus in council, councillor Ruby Mathang told the Speaker Vasco Da Gama that the party was tired of being undermined.
“The current administration is undermining the ANC each time we raise very valid matters,” Mathang said. “We will not sit here to be undermined.”
He then turned to address the leader of council’s executive business, Funzela Ngobeni, who seemed to have been making remarks while Mathang was talking.
“You see Ngobeni, that very attitude, that smelling attitude is what we talking about when we say when we raise serious issues… As the ANC we can’t sit in this meeting, we are going to leave,” said Mathang and ANC members burst into song while leaving the council chambers.
Da Gama ruled that the council sitting could not continue. This was the third consecutive sitting to be called off.
At the heart of the disagreement between the ANC and the DA is the city council’s failure to meet its deadline to submit plans for the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and budget.
In his address at the beginning of the council sitting, Ngobeni said a letter had been submitted to the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Human Settlement, Paul Mashatile, requesting an extension to the deadline to submit the IDP and budget plans.
ANC’s Solomon Mogase questioned why the letter was sent to the MEC without council’s consent. Later on, Ngobeni confessed that he had made an error and the letter had not been sent to the MEC but was with the City Manager.
In a statement, Mayor Herman Mashaba blamed the ANC for disrupting council sittings.
“The ANC in Johannesburg showed its disdain for residents by deliberately collapsing the city’s council sitting and staging a walkout which prevented the deliberation of crucial items needed to drive service delivery,” Mashaba said.
He added that instead of engaging the council on how the IDP process should be carried out for the benefit of residents across the city, particularly the poor, the ANC turned their backs on residents by walking out.
In response, spokesperson for the ANC in Johannesburg, Jolidee Matongo said, “We will not allow the DA to mislead council.”
He added that the ANC had on several occasions tried to advise and guide the DA on important items such as the IDP and the budget but their advice was rejected by the DA.
Matongo said the collapse of the council meeting pointed to a lack of leadership on the part of Mashaba and Da Gama. “The motions of no confidence on Mashaba and Vasco Da Gama are now more urgent than ever before,” he said. “Under Mayor Mashaba and Speaker Da Gama, the council has failed on numerous occasions to discharge its constitutional duties.”
He added that his party would be writing to Mashatile and the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Des van Royen to look at placing the City of Johannesburg municipality under administration.
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