Council walkout over soccer funding
The walkout followed a heated debate over funding of the local soccer club
SPARKS flew at the City of uMhlathuze final council meeting for the year on Friday, after heated debate over municipal funding of Richards Bay Football Club resulted in a walkout of the opposition parties.
This was prompted by the Speaker, Cllr Mthenjana, refusing to entertain the DA’s proposal to individually note the names of those ANC councillors who voted in favour of proposed sponsorship to the tune of R2.5-million.
This proposed sponsorship had earlier in the day been increased from R1.5-million to R2.5-million, at Exco.
Although in line with the standing orders, the speaker refused a division of the vote.
This prompted the DA, EFF and IFP to stage a walkout.
‘The speaker had no idea how to deal with the situation and relied on an official from Corporate Services to interpret the specific section of the Standing Orders,’ said DA Councillor and Chief Whip, Christo Botha.
‘More confusion ensued. ANC councillors accused opposition parties of trying to run council via their caucuses and demanded we abide by council’s decision.
‘We made it very clear that it’s an ANC decision and we don’t view it as a council decision.’
He said R2.5-million of taxpayers’ money would be better spent on the improvement of basic services.
ALSO READ: Richards Bay FC call for fan support
Echoing Botha’s sentiments, Cllr Rebecca Mohlala of the EFF said municipal funding must be spent on improvements to benefit all taxpayers.
‘The municipality must find a sponsor to fund the soccer team, not spend taxpayers’ money on something that will not benefit everyone.’
She said the EFF had sourced a potential sponsor and requested the matter be postponed to the new year.
‘The Speaker refused this request, which is what led to us joining in the walkout.’
Mohlala also said that it is unacceptable that councillors were presented with an amended agenda containing the inflated sponsorship amount as they walked in to council.
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