A day after the release of the auditor-general’s report, in which the metro did not achieve a clean audit, it was interesting to see how some of the attention moved towards the behaviour of councillors at the monthly council meeting, instead of the report.
Clr Makhosazane Dhladhla-Mavundla was spotted eating by the speaker, Clr Patricia Kumalo, and quickly reprimanded by her. Kumalo explained that eating anything in the council chambers was prohibited.
Clr Neil Diamond of the ANC was also spotted by a DA councillor eating something but it turned out he was having a mint, which is provided along with water during council meetings.
As the issue of complying with the standing orders and rules of council continued, the DA were called to order when they accused the speaker of not allocating the party members sufficient time to speak.
The speaker was quick in her response, explaining to the party’s chief whip, Clr André du Plessis, that time keeping was done for this very purpose.
Du Plessis responded by pointing out to the speaker that their time keeping might not be as accurate as the party was claiming it to be, so they also kept time.
Kumalo was quite upset to discover the DA had been doing this as it was not permitted and was against the standing orders.
Although Clr Izak Berg of IRASA briefly touched on yet another dismal result by the metro from the auditor-general, not much else was said about the issue.
