VANDERBIJLPARK.- The DA has strongly condemned what it said was the violent ANC response to Tuesday’s Motion of No Confidence in Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) mayor, Sipho Radebe.

The council chambers in Vanderbijlpark, which was expected to host the key vote, turned into a battlefield of disruptions as ANC members allegedly disrupted the sitting as they sang political songs and turned tables over. The DA said that the “vicious conduct of the ANC”, during the council sitting ended with not only stopping the Council sitting but also destroying municipal property.

“When the DA filed this motion, we did it for the good of the people of Emfuleni, because of gross failures by the ANC Mayor”, said the DA, pointing that:

• Both Water and Electricity utility services have collapsed, because of the municipality’s inability to manage its finances;
• Emfuleni’s Eskom account sits in excess of R6b;
• The Municipality’s bank accounts have been attached multiple times, and as a result, they cannot even pay their employees’ salaries;
• Waste collection in Emfuleni is non-existent; and
• 72% of all water supplied to the Emfuleni local municipality is lost, wasted, or unusable.

“We know that this is how the ANC reacts when their failures come home to roost. The DA is not deterred. The residents of Emfuleni deserve better than the failing mayor to which they have been subjected by the failing ANC of Panyaza Lesufi’s Gauteng Province.”

ELM spokesperson, Makhosonke Sangweni said that the Council didn’t conclude its business because of disagreements amongst councillors.