Election of Tshwane’s new mayor clouded by ‘illegitimate’ councillors

It remains unclear whether the City of Tshwane will have an executive mayor by the end of the day following concerns raised on the status of some councillors.

The Tshwane council convened a special meeting on Friday to elect a new mayor following the resignation of Dr Murunwa Makwarela.

The city’s new speaker, African Transformation Movement (ATM) councillor Mncedi Ndzwanana, presided over the council meeting.

‘Business of the day’

At the beginning of the proceedings, it was confirmed that ActionSA had terminated the membership of two councillors, Mandla Mhlana and Mpho Baloyi, who were still present in the council meeting.

This means ActionSA has lost three councillors after Nkele Molapo was axed from the party earlier this week.

Congress of the People (Cope) member, Justice Sefanyetso, was also announced as the councillor who will replace Makwarela.

It, however, later emerged that Sefanyetso allegedly has a criminal record and two IDs.

Following two caucus breaks, Democratic Alliance (DA) mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink proposed that Ndzwanana seek “legal advice” on the status of the two ActionSA councillors and the new Cope PR councillor.

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Brink also proposed that the sitting be suspended until next Wednesday.

But ANC councillor Moses Maluleke disagreed.

“This exercise has no space in the agenda of today’s meeting,” he said.

“You ruled on the matter of the three councillors earlier on when we stated that you didn’t receive any communication from both the city manager and the IEC [Independent Electoral Commission], therefore, we are done with that part. We are at the nominations stage so let’s deal with it. If they [object] then they should go to court.”

Watch the council meeting below:

Ndzwanana rejected the multi-party coalition’s proposal, saying his initial decision “still stands”.

“We are going to proceed with the business of the day,” he said, much to the dismay of the DA caucus.

DA councillor, Katlego Makgaleng, insisted that the party’s proposal should be debated in the council meeting before a decision is made.

“What you are doing speaker is illegal and it cannot be allowed. You are degenerating the House,” Makgaleng said.

The speaker later reversed his decision and adjourned the meeting until 7pm to consider legal advice.

The city still needs to elect a new mayor in order to pass the adjustment budget.

The metropolitan municipality has been given until 24 March by Treasury to pass the budget to avoid being placed under administration.

City ropes in Hawks

The City of Tshwane has confirmed that it has approached the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as the Hawks, to investigate Makwarela for fraud.

Makwarela resigned both as mayor and PR councillor last week after submitting a fraudulent insolvency rehabilitation certificate.

The former Tshwane mayor was declared insolvent in 2016.

His resignation came after he allegedly used a fake certificate to reverse his removal as mayor of the metropolitan municipality.

This meant he was prohibited from holding public office when he elected as a councillor in the 2021 local government elections.

READ MORE: Murunwa Makwarela could face a decade in jail over ‘clumsy’ forgery

“It is clear from where we are sitting that it appears as though Dr Makwarela is an unrehabilitated insolvent and as such he was ineligible to become a member of the Tshwane metropolitan municipality.

“He should have not been a speaker nor executive mayor so we have asked the Hawks to look into that issue to determine whether or not there was any commission of fraud regarding that,” City of Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba told reporters on Friday.

Bokaba last week indicated the city may seek to recoup the money paid to Makwarela while he served as a councillor.

Meanwhile, Cope’s Gauteng leadership revealed this week that Makwarela also faced accusations of sexual assault leading up to the 2021 municipal elections.

The provincial party is expected to institute disciplinary proceedings against Makwarela.

The DA and its coalition partners laid a fraud case at the Brooklyn police station against the former Tshwane mayor last Friday.