Drama characterised a special meeting of Polokwane municipal council last Wednesday when Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor Franco Marx was removed from the chamber by security personnel after a heated argument with Speaker Mariri Ralefatane.
It followed African National Congress (ANC) councillors supporting a recommendation from the Mayoral Committee that an amount of approximately R146 million that was invested with two JSE-listed financial institutions during 2016 may be withdrawn and re-invested, resulting in a penalty of R12,3 million. Marx agreed that the investment made no financial sense, as only 2% interest per annum was earned, and questioned the recommendation to re-invest the funds in monthly instalments of R6,3 million until the end of the 2018/19 financial year. A further recommendation was that R8 million per month will be invested from 1 July 2019 henceforth until the de-establishment of a sinking fund. Marx also emphasised that the report did not state where the proposed future investments will be made and also made provision for commission to be paid to an intermediary.
Marx proposed that the withdrawal process be placed on hold for seven days and that quotations be sourced from five major banks because he was confident that close to 8% interest could be earned without involving an intermediary.
Before Marx was clarified on the issues, he referred to “the ANC not acting in the best interests of the city” when speaking about councillors in the house and was, after objections from the floor by ANC members, requested by the Speaker to withdraw the reference because all members in council are councillors as such. Marx refused to withdraw and Ralefatane instructed the security staff to escort Marx from the chamber. Marx insisted that it was his “Constitutional right to political free speech” before he voluntarily followed security personnel out of the council chamber.
Council finally resolved that the Municipal Manager be tasked to obtain quotations for the future investments from financial institutions directly and that the matter be brought back to council if the offered rate is below 7%.
After the meeting, Marx said his removal from the meeting was a clear attempt from the Speaker to prevent him from asking clarity regarding the withdrawal of the investments. “It is obvious that there is an urgency to withdraw funds,” Marx said.
As Marx was ordered out of the house, member of the Mayoral Committee and ANC ward councillor Hafiz Shaikh survived a motion of no confidence because Marx, as the proposer of the motion, was no longer present to motivate his motion.
The reasons for the request for the removal of Shaikh as member of the Mayoral Committee reportedly related to his conduct as Chairperson of the defunct Land Use Management Committee of the council.
Ralefatane said that the motion “falls off”, although DA caucus leader Frank Haas maintained that the motion that called for Executive Mayor, Thembi Nkadimeng to consider to remove Shaikh as member of the Mayoral Committee, was carried without debate or objection and that the Speaker’s decision may be taken on review in a court of law.
Story: BARRY VILJOEN
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