Opposition parties boycott Durban council meeting - but it goes ahead anyway

28 June 2017 - 16:01 By Matthew Savides
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EFF leader Julius Malema and the DA's Mmusi Maimane.
EFF leader Julius Malema and the DA's Mmusi Maimane.
Image: GALLO IMAGES

The DA‚ EFF and IFP on Wednesday boycotted eThekwini Municipality’s full council meeting‚ accusing speaker William Mapena of breaching rules to allow ANC councillors to go to the party’s policy conference this weekend.

The meeting – held monthly – was originally scheduled for Thursday morning‚ but on Monday afternoon a text message was sent out informing councillors that it had been moved forward by a day. But this left opposition parties fuming‚ and the three biggest opposition parties refused to attend.

The meeting went ahead despite the boycott‚ with the ANC holding an overwhelming majority in council.

“This decision [to boycott] comes after… Mapena violated Section 6(2) of the council’s Rules of Order‚ which requires that councillors be given a 72-hour notice on the changes of scheduled council meetings. Changing the dates at such short notice is irresponsible‚ misleading and restricts the members of the public from partaking in matters of council‚” said DA councillor Sharon Hoosen.

TimesLIVE was shown a copy of the SMS alerting councillors to the date change. It shows that the message was sent on Monday shortly before 4pm. Hoosen said this would have been 39 hours short of the alleged 72-hour notification period.

She was particularly scathing of what her party saw as the reason for the decision.

“The speaker’s irrational decision was taken to accommodate a few ANC councillors who will be attending the ANC policy conference this weekend. This reckless decision came at a cost as the municipality spent thousands of rand on advertising the initial meeting. The speaker must pay back this money to the municipality‚” said Hoosen.

But Mapena denied any wrongdoing.

“All due processes were followed to change the date of the Full Council meeting from Thursday‚ 29 June to today‚ 28 June‚” he said.

In a statement responding to questions‚ Mapena admitted that “the majority of councillors” – around 115 - had requested that the meeting either be postponed or moved to another date.

“On Monday I met with the party whips of the various political parties following a request from a number of councillors to move the date of the meeting. There were a number of considerations made to change the date including that Treasury has a number of items to be finalised before the end of the financial year on June 30 and that a number of councillors would be on leave from June 29. Therefore‚ I decided to move the meeting forward by a day‚” he said.

He said all processes had been followed and the decision was above-board.

“The claims that processes were not followed is untrue as I consulted the Municipal Systems Act and Municipal Structures Act as well as the Rules of Order before making a decision and was in compliance with these‚” he said.

“I have not violated any rules. As the speaker‚ when councillors make a request to me I must respond to them. Changing the date of the meeting was not a political decision. Obviously councillors are from political parties who requested the change of date but it was not for a few councillors.”

Mayor Zandile Gumede also backed Mapena.

“All party whips were at the meeting and no one was against it‚” said Gumede.

- TimesLIVE

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