ANC welcomes DA councillor to its ranks

Clr Hendrik Shilabe raised his hand during the debate to announce that he was “fed up” with racism within the DA and that he was joining the ANC.

Shilabe is the third DA councillor to join the ANC in the region following the defection of councillors Stephen Mokoena and Veli Mosehla, who parted ways with the party last month.

Reacting to the defection, ANC regional chairperson in Ekurhuleni Moses Makwakwa stated that the ANC is looking forward to receiving Shilabe into the movement and believes he has a major role to play in taking the country forward.

“Our 20 years story of transformation brought a realisation to Mr Shilabe that the ANC is the only capable party to unite and transform South Africa,” said Makwakwa.

“Furthermore, the said DA councillor resigned on the basis that racism is the order of the day within the DA and its ranks, contrary to the ANC principles of organisational democracy and non-racism.

“As the ANC we remain ready to accept many members from opposition parties, because we know that our policies and commitments are genuine, realistic and driven by the will, as well as the needs of our people.”

‘Speaker allows democracy to crumble’

With regard to the incident, the DA will call for the Speaker and Chief Whip of the city to resign their positions as leadership of the council.

Failing this, they will report their conduct to the rules and ethics committees.

“In an obviously orchestrated move, the Speaker, Clr Patricia Kumalo, allowed Shilabe to speak after she had already announced that the DA had taken up all of its time.” said DA caucus leader Fortune Mahano.

“This is unprecedented in the council chamber.

“Moreover, Kumalo had claimed that she had not received a speakers’ list from the DA.”

Mahano believes this is another example of the way in which the Speaker and the Chief Whip, Robert Mashego, colluded to make Shilabe’s defection as dramatic as possible.

“In fact, the programming committee, of which Mashego is chair, had agreed in its meeting on Tuesday that parties did not have to submit speakers’ lists, as speaking times for each party had already been allocated,” said Mahano.

“Kumalo ignored several points of order as the chamber descended into chaos.

“During the commotion, Mashego admitted to the DA’s Chief Whip, Andre du Plessis, that Kumalo was out of order and agreed that Shilabe should have been removed from the chamber.

“However, Mashego took no steps to make that happen, as was his duty.”

According to Mahano, both Mashego and Kumalo displayed such outrageous partiality that the DA will not hesitate to call for a motion of no confidence in both of them at the April council meeting, should the rules and ethics committees not take up the matter properly.

“This is one of a multitude of problems that the DA has experienced at the hands of the Speaker, both politically and administratively, in this term of office,” said Mahano.

“We believe that she is making a mockery of South Africa’s hard fought-for democracy, in that she allowed her party to play political games when, in fact, serious service delivery issues should have been thoroughly debated and heard.”