'Misbehaving' councillors removed from state of city address in Joburg

Two councillors were removed from chambers and referred to the ethics committee following their attempts to derail the state of the city address in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Security was called to remove the councillors, who were calling for the speaker to count the number of councillors in the chamber to check if they had reached a quorum.

The disruption came after several ANC councillors left the chamber after accusing mayor Herman Mashaba of lying.

"We are not going to be undermined nor are we going to be abused by this house. We want a count, that's all," said councillor Lloyd Phillips of the Patriotic Alliance before being removed.

The two councillors said that by virtue of the ANC councillors leaving the chambers, the house did not meet the quorum which meant the address could not continue.

They were told that the address did not require a quorum, to which councillor Phillips said: "Then the mayor could have just invited the DA since he turned it into a campaign.

"Why is he inviting us? If he doesn't need a quorum, why is he inviting us? I think you just need to check on the rules again and try to assist us in an appropriate way".

MMC for public safety Michael Sun, who is also a DA councillor, said that the councillors would be referred to the ethics committee. "I want to request the house, through yourselves, that the two councillors that are misbehaving are formally referred to the ethics committee," he said.

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