‘Speaker must explain why no new mayor elected yet’ – MEC
“It means that the city remains without a mayor and is seized with a vacuum at executive leadership.”
Faith Mazibuko, the Acting MEC for the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA,) wrote a letter to Tshwane Speaker, Mncedi Ndzwanana, demanding to know why the municipal council has failed to elect a mayor after two sittings were held.
Ndzwanana was given three days to respond.
“It means that the city remains without a mayor and is seized with a vacuum at executive leadership,” said Mazibuko.
“The perpetual failure to elect an executive mayor places the integrity and governance of the municipality in peril.
“I view the state of affairs in the city in a very serious light.”
Mazibuko appealed to all councillors to put the interests of Tshwane residents first and elect an executive mayor expeditiously.
The Speaker’s office spokesperson, Vanessa De Sousa, confirmed that the Speaker received the letter on Thursday.
“He has three days to respond and will respond before the deadline.
“It is the responsibility of the executive mayor and Finance MMC to table the adjustment budget to be passed in Council. Hence, the Speaker keeps scheduling council meetings to elect a mayor.”
De Sousa said they will try again on March 28.
Tshwane council also confirmed that it has received correspondence from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) indicating that the four Proportional Representative (PR) Councillor positions that were declared vacant earlier this week had been duly filled.
“The IEC has furnished the city with the replacement names of the four councillors – three from ActionSA and one from the Congress of the People (COPE),” said metro spokesperson Selby Bokaba.
ActionSA has since called up three “long-standing” members to fill their vacancies after it terminated three councillors; two on the day of the first voting attempt as the party believed the members had worked with opposition parties in prior voting sittings.
The termination on March 17 led ActionSA and its coalition members to stage a walkout during the special council sitting where a new Tshwane mayor was due to be elected.
“Legal advice is needed on the letters received from ActionSA and Cope on the vacancies in their respective parties.”
ActionSA Gauteng provincial chairperson Funzi Ngobeni said ActionSA had concluded its candidate selection processes following a full review of its PR list in Tshwane.
Ngobeni said the candidates to fill the vacant spots in the party were Mark Boikanyo, Hluphi Gafane and Derick Mahlangu.
The second attempt at electing a Tshwane mayor during Wednesday’s special council sitting was also unsuccessful.
The drama centred on two letters submitted by Cope’s national leadership on the withdrawal of Sefanyetso as a councillor in Tshwane.
Sefanyetso was set to replace controversial former member and Tshwane mayor Murunwa Makwarela, who resigned after submitting a fake court rehabilitation notice to the city manager earlier this month.
The reason for the withdrawal seems to focus on Sefanyetso being disqualified as a councillor for legal reasons.
Cope’s spokesperson Dennis Bloem, however, refuted claims that Cope had withdrawn Sefanyetso.
Bloem blamed a “rogue faction” within their party for attempting to remove their councillor and has promised legal action.
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