The ANC shook the chamber with thunderous liberation songs ahead of the sitting, which went on and on for a grueling four hours with squabbles about rules and orders and whether “stupid” is a word that should be uttered in council when it is not directed at a person?

Children do what children see and it wasn’t long before little Lethabo, whose grandmother said she is a proud SACP member and therefore also an ANC supporter, started hopping around on councilor’s seats, mimicking the songs on the public announcement system.

Shortly after the opposition marched into the chamber, one of the first items on the agenda, under applications and appeals from councillors, led to some heated debate from the opposition benches.

During the item – Appeal by Cllr PP Tau – the incarceration of, and consequent withdrawal of armed robbery charges against councillor Poppy Tau, again moved into the spotlight.

Councillor Tau appealed against a R1000 fine imposed for not attending a Municipal Public Accounts committee meeting on 13 March.

In her appeal she stated: “I was arrested on 17 February, and on 13 March I was still in custody”.

She further states that she cannot afford the fine as she “has more expenses,” and that she dreaded tendering an apology.

Surprisingly, the opposition DA and Cope, supported the scrapping of the fine since both parties was against the amendment of the rules of order, imposing fines on councillors which the DA caucus leader said, was an ANC ploy to disadvantage the opposition.

Cope’s Ben Moekona called the debate “an outright embarrassment”.

Councillor Tau’s fine was squashed while the ANC sought to uphold a fine imposed on another of its councilors, Cllr NJ Mlambo, a member of the Special Development, Human Settlement and Housing Administration Section 80 Committee, who missed a meeting on March 6.

He based his appeal on the fact that he “did not deliberately fail to attend the meeting, I unintentionally, merely forgot to submit a leave of absence form”.

The ANC debated that Tau’s reason for absence, due to her incarceration, was exceptional in so far as there was no way for her to receive council agendas and documentation in prison.

The “unintentional merely forgotten” excuse however did not fly for the ANC who based its majority decision on the fact that the party was serious about service delivery.

After the opposition again sought to scrap the fine against Cllr Mlambo, the ANC upheld the fine, proving the DA’s Hennie Niemann right, “that with a majority the ANC can abuse the amendments on a whim”.