Deputy mayor elected in ANC’s absence

IFP councillor, Lucia Zwane, was elected deputy mayor on Tuesday morning after the ANC walked out of the council meeting.

At the council inauguration last Thursday, Ms Zwane and the ANC candidate, Zacheus Nkosi, had each earned 22 votes resulting in the election of deputy mayor being postponed to Tuesday’s council meeting… an interesting turn of events since the IFP, DA, EFF coalitions holds a majority 23 votes.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the ANC objected to the manner in which the voting was taking place.

“We (the ANC) felt that the proper process was not being followed. People were voting in a manner that was not fair and not secret. IFP councillors were showing each other the marked ballot forms before folding it and putting in the ballot box. When the acting MM tried to advise the council that the voting was supposed to be secret, the speaker stood up and said that he had ruled that the process must continue and that any councillor that spoke from then on would be expelled from the council meeting,” explained Cllr Mphumzeni Mtshali.

“We can’t be part of a process that is run wrongly and where we are not allowed to express our views so we decided to leave the meeting.”

As the IFP, DA and EFF coalition constituted a quorum, the election of the Deputy Mayor continued in the ANC’s absence.

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