The highly anticipated KwaDukuza municipality (KDM) council meeting this afternoon ended in utter chaos before a proposed motion of no confidence against its leadership could be raised.

This was capped off by a brawl involving councillors inside the town hall, while a panga was seized by police from a party supporter in the rafters.

It was a symptom of growing tension present throughout the meeting, with minor issues consistently becoming contentious debates.

Depending on who one asked, the issue was characterised as a plot by the coalition negotiators to gain more time, a plot by the ruling party to prevent the motion, or simply the straw the broke the camel’s back after months of council disagreements.

After a morning of petty insults and tense debates, it was an item that proposed sharing the services of KDM community services executive director, Siyabonga Khanyile, which pushed things over the edge.

Owing to a vacancy at the Mandeni municipality, a request was made that ED Khanyile spend two or three days a week working there over the next six months.

This was met by widespread derision from the opposition who said that his full attention was needed within KwaDukuza where there are enough problems that require his oversight.

After a debate that turned into a shouting match, it was decided that a vote would be taken to find the best way forward.

The vote was recorded by community safety executive director, Cecil Viramuthu, as 27-26 to the ruling party, but this was immediately questioned by the opposition.

“We would like to know whether that number of 27 included the vote of speaker Govender, who is not allowed to vote on this item. We also note that the doors were not closed for the vote, as is the standing rule,” said Democratic Alliance (DA) chief whip and ward 22 councillor, Privi Makhan.

Municipal manager, Nhlanhla Mdakane, said that he believed the speaker was allowed to cast a vote given her position as an elected councillor.

It was further questioned whether the purported count was correct, with ActionSA councillor Sipho Zungu claiming he counted 27 votes for the opposition.

Independent Alliance leader, Melisizwe Ntleko took it a step further, accusing Viramuthu – who has consistently been council’s vote counter – as siding with the African National Congress (ANC).

“We know that deep in his heart, this man has a love for the ANC and he has misled council here today,” said Ntleko.

This prompted speaker Govender to eject Ntleko from council, which is when the brawl broke out.

It is not clear how it started, but Ntleko, other IA members and members of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) were involved, as were KDM chief operating officer Mandla Manzini and Viramuthu.

Officers from KwaDukuza Saps, community safety and private security guards intervened to break up the brawl.

The leadership left when the brawl broke out, as did most councillors, after which the meeting never resumed.

The incident prompted widespread condemnation from opposition parties.

“The ANC in KwaDukuza provoked a physical altercation in today’s sitting of council to deliberately collapse the meeting in a transparent attempt to avoid the voting on our motions of no confidence in the mayor, deputy-mayor, speaker and chief whip,” said ActionSA national chairperson, Michael Beaumont.

ActionSA members also later said they would lay charges at the KwaDukuza police station “against members of the ANC and municipal officials”.

KwaDukuza DA caucus leader and ward 6 councillor, Tammy Colley, said the cause of the chaos was because of procedural irregularities in the way the item was handled.

“Speaker Dolly Govender attempted to gerrymander the results of a vote. The DA will today write to the speaker requesting a written explanation of what rules she followed to eject the IA councillor, as well as to the mayor requesting an urgent executive committee meeting to discuss today’s events,” said Colley.

Defending the handling of the situation, ANC ward councillor Sicelinjabulo Cele said he believed the meeting was collapsed by the opposition.

“Those saying speaker Govender does not have a vote are wrong. The people of council were today dictated to by the IA and misrepresented the facts. The ANC were voted into control and we maintain control, this is shown by the fact that we won 27 out of 30 wards. We are what the people of KwaDukuza want,” he said.

So far, there has been no mention of a special council meeting to allow the motion of no confidence, as well as around 15 other items that were not dealt with, to be presented.

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