CHAOS erupted during a special Ekurhuleni council meeting when members of the ANC and EFF nearly exchanged blows during a debate over a DA motion of no confidence in the mayor.
The metro held a special council meeting on March 16, where the DA brought the motion of no confidence against Clr Mzwandile Masina. The motion did not succeed as the ruling party and its coalition members voted against it. It was during this debate that all hell broke loose.
According to DA ward councillor Jaco Terblanche, members of the EFF and ANC exchanged a few words which quickly escalated to a loud altercation during the debate over the motion.
Video footage shows members of the two parties arguing with each other during the meeting.
Robert Mashego, MMC for Infrastructure Services, and EFF members can be seen pushing each other in front of the Speaker’s seat.
At the same time, several EFF and ANC members have gathered in the centre of the council chambers and are arguing loudly, looking almost as if they could start fighting physically.
Towards the end of the video, an EFF member throws water at the ANC councillors. The altercation eventually calmed down and the meeting resumed.
Supported by the EFF and COPE, the opposition brought forward the motion, following what they described as the “mass collapse of almost every level of service delivery”.
“The DA has been raising the plight of service delivery issues affecting the communities throughout the metro. Perhaps the mayor should have cared enough to have listened when red flags were raised on matters ranging from the diesel depot, to the C-track debacle,” Ekurhuleni DA leader Ghaleb Cachalia said in a statement following the incident.
“From crisis to crisis, the ANC-led coalition continues to act irresponsibly and recklessly. The vulnerable have been the most affected, not only at a national level where the governing party continues to stumble on, but at a local level too.”
On March 3 numerous metro vehicles, including metro police cars, came to a halt when C-Track deactivated its systems.
• Tracking system grinds EMPD vehicles to a halt
Cachalia continued: “The impact of the C-track debacle is yet to be fully revealed in Ekurhuleni but one thing is for sure, the metro ground to a halt on March 3. Critical services were shut down as ambulances on their way to emergency scenes stopped dead in their tracks. EMPD vehicles couldn’t attend to crime scenes and all other municipal vehicles fitted with the C-track system could not operate; all because the metro owed in excess of R6.1 million to the C-track service provider since September last year.”
However, despite the DA being adamant about the mayor’s and the ruling party’s poor performance, the ANC remained unfazed by the motion, even going as far as calling it “nothing but an opportunistic move”.
Ekurhuleni ANC chief whip, Jongizizwe Dlabathi, said in a statement following the failed motion: “The motion purports that the executive mayor has failed to use the resources of the municipality in the best interest of the local government. In our view, this statement is not in sync with reality, given the 100 days progress report provided by the mayor in this council.”
The ANC said it would not succumb to attempts to discredit its government on issues such as the C-Track incident.
Since the inception of the contract in May 2011 the city has, according to the ANC, paid all invoices which were incurred in terms of the written contract with the service provider.
And, following due processes and a tender, the city appointed Fleet Horizons Solutions, using Section 32 of the supply chain management regulations for appointment of a service provider, utilising Sedibeng District Municipality.
“Therefore, as the ANC-led government we made sure that none of the operations, officials and drivers will be affected or inconvenienced. We continued to render services to all the residents of Ekurhuleni and there were no reports of service failure due to the deactivation of tracking devices as it is claimed by the DA,” Dlabathi explained.
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The ANC also said it would put in place an action plan to remedy the situation regarding the shortage of diesel in the metro.
“As an ANC caucus we’ve since taken a firm decision to put in place an action plan to remedy the situation and the situation is stable.”
“These allegations are nothing but a personal attack on the mayor and we therefore reject all these flimsy attempts to discredit him and our government. The ANC caucus once more reaffirms its confidence in the leadership capabilities of Masina in improving the lives of our people,” he concluded.
