FTLM’s opposition councillors allegedly sjambokked
According to sources, councillors and ordinary citizens were allegedly sjambokked following a political spat that degenerated into a physical fight.
BURGERSFORT – A Fetakgomo Tubatse Local Municipality (FTLM) special council sitting turned into chaos last Monday.
Videos of men entering the chamber with sjamboks are circulating on social media.
According to sources, councillors and ordinary citizens were allegedly sjambokked following a political spat that degenerated into a physical fight.
The special council was called to discuss the municipal manager’s (MM) post, which is nearing its
end in less than two months. The fourth quarterly council budget assessment was also on the agenda.
After the chaos, the Bolsheviks Party of South Africa’s (BPSA) secretary general, Seun Mogotji, confirmed there was a physical fight.
“The brouhaha commenced after there was a disagreement between councillors on who was eligible to act in the MM’s position,” he said.
“Others harboured the belief that the mayor, Eddie Maila, should place the MM on special leave and appoint the current chief financial officer to act.”
He said a heated debate erupted during the sitting – punches were thrown and tables and chairs were broken
“This happened after a group of people entered the chamber and started sjambokking the councillors without any provocation,” alleged Mogotji.
He said one of the BPSA councillors in the municipality was so scared by the “thuggish beatings of opposition councillors that he even had nightmares about it.”
Mogotji claims only members of the opposition, including councillors of the Bolsheviks, the EFF and the
Socialist Agenda of Dispossessed Africans were attacked.
“We were shocked that instead of calling security officers, working for and paid by the municipality,
or the police, the ANC-led political management of the municipality decided to stoop so low and called the local taxi association,” alleged Mogotji.
“The security cluster is there for a reason. Taxi associations are not and will never be considered or recognised as part of the security cluster. Whoever called these guys was definitely out of line, and he needs
to answer to this thuggish decision. The opposition parties threatened to open a case against the FTLM on the matter.”
The paper forwarded queries to the FTLM’s communications team on Monday, but it had yet to respond by the time of going to press.
