Drama unfolded in council chambers at the Rand West City Local Municipality (RWCLM) during a no confidence vote against Executive Mayor, Mzi Khumalo, on Wednesday, 29 August.
Seth Sekhokho of the DA was first to have a go at the Mayor, referring to the ANC’s inability to take care of municipal vehicles and swimming pools in the city.
Bethuel Munyai of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said that members of the ANC are protecting their own jobs, which is why they want Khumalo to stay on as mayor. He added that the town has many foreigners and feels they spent R10 million unnecessarily on fencing at the City Hall and on deteriorating infrastructure. He also attacked Ally Mosina, Randfontein People’s Party (RPP) leader and chairman of the Municipal Public Accounts, known as M Pac for taking sides with the ANC.
Nozi Mapena, an ANC ward councillor, hit back at opposition parties for criticising the Mayor, especially on matters that are related to service delivery. She added that everyone is going against what was discussed at a Section 80 meeting, when the opposition parties had a chance to question certain decisions on council projects and programmes.
Dumile Sithole, another ANC councillor and MMC for Infrastructure, reminded the DA of the issue in Tshwane, where they came under fire for cadre employment. He also protected his party on the Eskom issue, saying that Rand West’s name never came up as one of the municipalities who owe Eskom.
Gerhard Kruger, a DA councillor, emphasised that the people have lost confidence in the ANC-run municipality and said that they always have to do damage control on issues in town where things could have been controlled before they got worse.
Ally Mosina and Mike Nkoe, both of the RPP, seemed to be singing from the same hymn book as the ANC during the debate around the motion of no confidence.
Mosina said the reason why council is faced with a indigent situation is that many people are unemployed because of the declining mining industry in the region and Rand West City. Nkoe called for the Mayor to be given an opportunity to deal with the matter.
In his response, the Mayor referred to some of the accusations mentioned by opposition parties as ‘blue lies’.
In support of the Mayor, the Speaker, councillor Violet Mnqina, said it seems that the opposition parties are unsure why they want to table a motion of no confidence in the Mayor.
Councillor Jeremiah Biyela , a DA councillor from Zenzele, created drama when he came to Khumalo’s defence and called for unity. This led to the DA requesting a five minute recess for a caucus. While they were in caucus, the EFF and ANC taunted each other and sang revolutionary songs, with members of the public gallery joining in.
When the time for voting came, the EFF walked out of the chambers, leaving only the ANC, RPP, DA and Azapo to do the voting.
The result went in favour of Khumalo with 38 votes for him, and 20 against him. Eight votes were not counted due to the EFF walking out.
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