Before the council could even start with official proceedings, Cllr Segage raised a procedural matter in regard to the late distribution of agendas, resulting in opposition councillors calling on Speaker Thomas Mpye to silence the MHRF and EFF, who also voiced their “inability to work through” the 1 600 plus page agendas.

Speaker Mpye suppressed further protests by Cllr Segage before the DA’s Palesa Mobango urged a number of safety checks be added to the final resolution on employee salary hikes, to ensure that any further protest action by employees following the November wage agreement and implementation of adjusted salaries be quashed with iron-clad mayoral recommendations.

The ANC initially agreed to the DA’s amendments before the MHRF tabled a counter-proposal, resulting in another war of words with Speaker Mpye. Cllr Segage said that the MHRF would support the recommendations as is, without the DA’s safety checks to finally put the wage dispute into a coffin six feet under.

To ensure that the salary dispute was finalised, the DA withdrew its amendments before Speaker Mpye humbly requested councillors to put their political ideals aside and approach the ongoing wage conundrum with objectivity.

“If you love your constituents, you will agree to a solution, or remain the laughing stock of other municipalities,” Speaker Mpye implored.

The DA’s Hennie Niemann clarified that the DA simply wanted labour law to protect the municipality and community from ongoing strikes, when a gallery spectator opined loudly “no work, no pay, no services”.

The EFF made it clear that its loyalty lies with municipal employees on the matter before the council finally agreed to implement the salary adjustments, while workers received their first of three three-month back pay installments.

The special council sitting was directly followed by the ordinary council sitting, when latecomer Councillor Ben Mokoena again raised a procedural point before official proceedings could start.

The entire sitting then descended into chaos when Cllr Mokoena and his fellow MHRF caucus demanded the meeting be postponed to Thursday, in order to work through the agenda diligently.

Speaker Mpye again attempted to stifle tensions before Cllr Segage said “it was not satanic to rectify issues regarding council’s 72-hour notice policy on sittings”.

Both the MHRF and EFF hammered on the fact that the 72-hour notice policy did not include weekends or the day of the notice announcement, thereby declaring Monday’s sitting “against the council’s rules”.

Speaker Mpye said the matter could be raised at the Section 79 committee on rules and ethics, with Cllr Segage retorting that the MHRF would not withdraw its procedural objection “to the point of being removed by council bouncers or the SAPS”, spurring Speaker Mpye to lambaste Cllr Segage over “exposing your limited knowledge”.

MHRF Cllr Thato Mathunyane said the meeting “would degenerate” after Speaker Mpye refused a barrage of procedural objections to continue, with Cllr Mathunyane then questioning the fairness in expecting councillors to work through a 1 600 plus page agenda over a weekend, drawing a rebuke from Municipal Manager Advocate Bheki Khenisa, who said that council works on facts, not fairness, which he conceded “is nice”, soliciting a chuckle from the public gallery.

DA Cllr Palesa Mobango said “the meeting has left the house”, urging Speaker Mpye to allow Cllr Mokoena to submit a postponement proposal “so that he can lose in peace”.

The MHRF then left, with the EFF opting to stay. Roars of laughter broke out after Cllr Mobango demanded MHRF councillors be noted absent and fined, since they left before the start of official proceedings.