EFF continues to push for Tshwane mayor’s removal
The council meeting that was supposed to vote on the motion of no confidence against Williams ended in chaos last Thursday.
Despite a recent motion of no confidence against the Tshwane mayor to remove him from his position ending in chaos, the Tshwane EFF has said it will continue to push for the ouster.
On Monday, EFF supporters held protests and blocked roads in Centurion calling for Tshwane mayor Randall Williams’s resignation.
There was supposed to be a vote on the motion of no confidence against Williams last week Thursday but the meeting ended chaotically. The council meeting lasted until the early hours of Friday but EFF and ANC councillors left the meeting before the voting.
Council speaker Murunwa Makwarela said the urgent motion was voted for only by coalition government councillors and the 108 votes protected Williams from losing his job.
“The opposition [both ANC and EFF] failed to vote for their own motion. They left the council before discussing the motion and hence the urgency fell off. As a result, we currently don’t have a motion against the mayor,” Makwarela said.
EFF regional leader Obakeng Ramabodu told Rekord said there were disagreements about the rules that govern the motion of no confidence between EFF councillors and Makwarela.
Ramabodu said the EFF left due to “fatigue” after a nearly 15-hour-long council meeting.
“We will table a vote of no confidence against the mayor again in council. We are not going to give up and let a corrupt mayor lead this municipality.”
Ramabodu said his party wanted the motion to be voted for using a secret ballot, “we believe that there are some DA councillors that want the mayor out”.
Hundreds of EFF supporters protested outside Tshwane House last week Thursday, carrying posters demanding “Randall Williams must fall”. The protests continued on Monday in Centurion as roads were blocked.
The ANC and EFF needed 108 votes to muster their goal to remove Williams.
Combined, parties have only 98 votes and likely would have failed to remove Williams, especially with ActionSA, refusing to support the motion despite criticising the mayor.
In the past two weeks, ActionSA and DA have been at loggerheads about the R48.6-billion investment offer by a private Australian company to revamp two metro-owned power substations. Williams was accused of bullying officials to approve the unsolicited bid despite concerns about the deal’s possibly flawed supply chain management (SCM) processes.
ActionSA and DA reached an agreement in a coalition oversight group (COG) meeting last week. They agreed to have a two-month independent investigation into allegations against Williams and the proposed multi-billion rand energy deal.
ActionSA Gauteng chairperson Bongani Baloyi said the party would await the results of the investigation.
“We will not support the motion of no confidence against Williams,” Baloyi said.
Williams described the motion of no confidence against him as “frivolous”.
“Had these motions been debated on, the opposition parties would have lost. Despite recent challenges, our multi-party coalition is a united and solid voting block in council,” he said.
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