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Four seconds for a speech?
By KENNEDY MUDZULI
MINORITY political parties in the city of Joburg may get as little as four seconds of speaking time in future meetings.
This is in terms of a proposal to allocate speaking time in accordance with the representation of each political party, which is being discussed at a meeting of the city’s Rules Committee this afternoon.
Sparks are expected to fly at the meeting as the DA and minority parties, that are known for routinely sucking up to the ANC, attempt to oppose the proposal.
The proposal states that no more than 15 minutes would be spent on any specific report at council meetings.
When calculated according to representation, the ruling ANC will have almost nine-and-a-half minutes with the opposition DA getting a little more than four minutes.
The ANC has 136 councillors in the City of Joburg, while the DA has 59.
The Inkatha Freedom Party, which has seven councillors, will have 28,8 seconds, while the Independent Democrats’ four members will only speak for 16 seconds.
The African Christian Democratic Party and Pan Africanist Congress, with their two councillors, will speak for eight seconds.
The biggest losers are representatives of the seven minority parties with one councillor each, among them the Christian Democratic Party, Azanian People’s Organisation, Operation Khanyisa Movement and Freedom Front Plus.
These parties will, should the proposal be adopted, speak for about four seconds, which is only enough time to address the Speaker of Council.
Members of the Mayoral Committee will speak for three minutes each and chairmen of the portfolio committees for only two minutes.
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