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City of Tshwane fails to elect new speaker as bribery claims fly
The ANC has accused the DA-led coalition of deliberately 'sabotaging council activities'.
A general view at the City of Tshwane council meeting on 24 November 2021, in Pretoria. Picture: Gallo Images/Beeld/Deaan Vivier
A new speaker in the City of Tshwane could not be elected after the metro’s council sitting failed to reach a quorum.
Tshwane city manager Johann Mettler, who was presiding over the meeting, resolved to adjourn the council sitting on Monday.
“There is still no quorum in this meeting so I, therefore, postpone this meeting,” Mettler said.
‘Valid reason’
Councillors from the Democratic Alliance (DA) and its multiparty coalition partners ActionSA, African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), FF Plus (FF+), and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) were missing from the council meeting.
Only DA chief whip Christo van den Heever was present at the sitting on behalf of absent multi-party coalition councillors.
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The African National Congress (ANC) accused the parties of deliberately “sabotaging council activities”.
“I see councillor Christo, [but] his colleagues are not here and that on its own is undermining the standing of this council because last week the speaker was insulted for not having a sense of urgency when it comes to calling meetings, passing budgets and all other issues that were raised relating to respecting council.
“Today, the very same party disregards an invitation that came out to elect a speaker,” ANC councillor Aaron Maluleka said on Monday.
Maluleka suggested that the reason behind the parties being absent was to accommodate polygraph tests.
“Going out to perform lie detector tests cannot be a valid reason for not attending a council meeting,” he said.
Last week, it was reported that the coalition partners were considering using polygraph tests to identify the councillors who voted to ensure the election of Congress of the People (Cope) member Murunwa Makwarela as Tshwane mayor.
The voting took place via secret ballot, with Makwarela beating DA councillor Cilliers Brink by 11 votes.
Makwarela, who was the speaker in Tshwane, was nominated for the mayoral position from the floor by the African Transformational Movement (ATM) last Tuesday.
The coalition partners previously accused Makwarela of “jumping ship” to join forces with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and ANC.
‘Veil of secrecy’
Meanwhile, an EFF councilor also criticised the move to conduct polygraph tests on councillors, saying it was unconstitutional.
“Those councillors are subjected to lie detector test to lift the veil of secrecy in terms of them carrying out their responsibility to vote for an executive mayor. This council cannot be found to be numb to not addressing the elephant in the room,” the councillor said.
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“Why was there even a [secret ballot] in the first place if it has to be lifted by machines? Why is the chief whip accepting those apologies in bulk and then he is sitting here like nothing happened?”
In his response, Mettler said there were “legal processes available for councillors who are of the view that any of their rights have been infringed”.
‘Criminal bribing’
ActionSA has since accused Ramabodu of interfering and disrupting the polygraphs test, which reportedly took place in Midrand.
According to the party, Ramabodu “trespassed” at the private venue and “stole the polygraph equipment”.
“This latest move by the EFF demonstrates how desperate they are to stop the truth from coming out and that they are willing to do anything to hide what is believed to be the criminal bribing of councillors within the coalition,” ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said in a statement.
Beaumont said the party would lay criminal charges against the three EFF councillors who disrupted the tests.
“We are now more convinced than ever that we will get to the bottom of what the EFF is trying to hide about how their candidate for mayor was elected.”
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