Joburg Mayor Mashaba says ANC adamant in collapsing council on ‘corrupt’ expropriation transaction

The first day, 21 June, of the two-day June council sitting in the City of Johannesburg came and went with no official council business being considered. This because of the African National Congress’ (ANC) disruptions, stemmed from a motion about expropriated land in Rabie Ridge not being accepted for debate in council by the programming committee.

After taking a lunch break, ANC councillors continued to fill the chamber with loud song and protest, resulting in the Speaker of Council, Vasco da Gama, suspending the meeting.

Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba said the ANC has once again shown its disdain for democratic process within the City. But the ANC’s chief whip Solly Mogase disagreed, saying it was, in fact, the party that was being denied the democratic process of deliberating a crucial council item.

But Mashaba said the motion was inadmissible.

“The motion is to have me referred to the City’s Ethics Committee for allegedly undermining council by not acting to support a seemingly corrupt expropriation transaction, undertaken by the previous ANC government,” the mayor said.

The land in question was said to have been expropriated in 2003 for building houses, but the owners objected to it, leading the matter to the courts. Mogase said the mayor did not represent the City on this matter in court.

But Mashaba said the 2003 transaction would appear to have been irregularly made, lacking in proper council oversight and against the best interest of residents.

Though the matter is still under internal investigation, Mashaba said preliminary observations suggest only those aligned to the ANC would have benefitted from this process. He said it seems that the past administration sought to force the City into expropriating property at an inflated cost, whilst deriving little utility for the City and residents from the purchase.

“The ANC’s motion was brought before the City’s multi-party Programming Committee which found that the motion was inadmissible as no breach of Council’s processes had been committed by the Executive nor myself.”

But the ANC later issued a statement, saying Da Gama mislead council by ‘falsely stating that the motion cannot be submitted in council based on the matter being sub-judice’. The party said the matter was, however, finalised in February this year. The ANC also claims Mashaba instructed officials to cancel the expropriation last year.

“As the ANC Caucus in Johannesburg we believe that the South African land question has been characterised by a history of dispossessions, discrimination and oppression. The public perception around the land debate is that the City is doing less to derive alternative solutions to address these matters.”

Land being a crucial issue for the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the party’s Musa Novela said although they agree with the ANC fundamentally about land expropriation, the ANC should follow council rules.

The meeting is set to continue on 22 June where third-quarter reports will, hopefully, be tabled.

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