President of the African Democratic Change (ADeC) party, councillor Visvin Reddy, has commended the speaker of eThekwini council, Thabani Nyawose, for his upright approach when chaos struck council proceedings on Tuesday.
According to Reddy, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) chose to disrupt the meeting with an unproductive and amateurish approach.
This comes after its councillors had to be dragged out of the council meeting by security and police officers.
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Disgruntled EFF councillors heckled the speaker as they were calling for the city manager, Musa Mbhele, to leave the meeting.
The disruption started after mayor Mxolisi Kaunda delivered a report explaining why R1,2 billion worth of funds, meant for repairing the city’s failing infrastructure, was returned to National Treasury.
Speaker Thabani Nyawose ruled that the city manager will not leave the meeting, as no other party shared the EFF’s request.
However, matters escalated when the EFF was requested by the speaker to leave the meeting if they didn’t behave.
Nyawose then called security to remove the EFF from the meeting.
The EFF was heard saying “babize, nilande nama sosha” which means “call them, and also bring soldiers”.
When the EFF refused to leave peacefully, a fight between its councillors and security personnel started.
In spite of the chaos, speaker Thabani Nyawose kept his composure and stuck to the rules. He managed the situation in a professional manner, eventually calling on security to remove the unruly EFF councillors. The EFF’s sudden and disruptive behavior during the meeting can best be described as a failed attempt at grandstanding.
“They continually interrupted the proceedings with irrelevant points of order, which were aimed at creating chaos rather than finding workable solutions,” said Reddy.
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Nyawose assured the rest of the councillors that the behaviour of the EFF will be investigated, guided by the council rules and code of conduct.
“Our code of conduct is clear on how to handle such matters and the issue of the Metro police coming to the chambers armed will also be looked at,” he said.