More chaos erupts in Joburg council as minority parties threaten criminal charges

Johannesburg’s council meeting to elect portfolio committee chairs descended into chaos for the third time on Thursday.

Disgruntled councillors from the opposition bloc — the ANC, EFF and the AIC, among others — resorted to leaving their seats, singing, chanting, clapping hands, hurling insults, fiddling with microphones and raising clenched fists while the meeting was in session.

This after attempts to halt the nomination process from forging ahead. Councillors also accused the council speaker of “suppressing” them and avoiding debate.

Earlier, Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse pleaded with councillors to co-operate and put the interests of constituents first.

“Our residents today are counting on us to prioritise them and get on with the business of council. I sincerely hope that we all remember why we are here and that we will ensure that we put our residents first,” she said.

The sitting, which commenced shortly after 10am, started off with some councillors expressing dissatisfaction at other councillors being turned away from the chambers — apparently due to not carrying their access cards — while those in coalition with the DA were allowed in.

The EFF’s Musa Novela also sought to challenge the validity of the minutes from the previous meeting.

Council speaker Vaso da Gama asked that councillors vote on whether the minutes should be adopted. In a surprise move, ActionSA president Herman Mashaba did not support his coalition partners in a vote confirming the council minutes.

The EFF’s chief whip, Nonhlahla Radebe, went as far as criticising the voting process, which elected COPE’s Colleen Makhubela as chair of chairs.

The EFF said the process was unconstitutional and declined to take part.

“The system was fraudulent. We are saying the process must be nullified and a case of fraud opened against your office,” Radebe said.

Councillors from the minority bloc, among them the AIC, GOOD and Al Jama-ah, left the proceedings abruptly, with the AIC’s Margaret Arnolds leading the way. She said she was heading to the Hillbrow police station to open a fraud case against Da Gama.

“Speaker, if there are people who want to raise issues, allow them to do that and then make a ruling. The meeting will conclude the business of the day, but allow us to engage. If you continue like this, speaker, as the ANC we want to put it on record that we will challenge this process,” said ANC councillor Mpho Moerane.

Da Gama declined the request to postpone the election.

“I reserve my rights as the speaker to stay on the ruling that I made on the 13th [of January, during the previous council meeting] and therefore to allow the continuation of this meeting,” he said.

The meeting continued, with councillors singing, chanting and shouting from their seats.

The Patriotic Alliance’s Ashley Sauls was elected as finance committee chairperson, the DA’s Gert Niemand in the ethics and disciplinary, the DA’s Bongani Nkomo in economic development, Alex Christians in housing, and ActionSA’s Sarah Wissler in governance.

Phalatse urged opposition parties to accept the outcome of the meeting.

“Despite unending challenges to the elections taking place, I am confident that, ultimately, it will be found that the process undertaken to elect the section 79 committee chairpersons fell within the ambit of the law. I call upon all councillors and political parties to accept the outcome of today’s election as it is a result of democratic processes. 

“It is important, now more than ever, to demonstrate a maturity that offers residents comfort that their needs will be attended to with the urgency they deserve,” she said. 

The city’s first council meeting of the year took place on January 14, and turned violent. Some personnel were injured and the meeting ended prematurely after clashes over voting procedures.

After the incident, security was beefed up and the meeting rescheduled to January 18.

The second sitting also turned chaotic as councillors sought constant caucus breaks and the removal of security guards from council chambers. The election of the chair of chairs took place only eight hours after the session had commenced.

The DA-led coalition has since accused the ANC, which was relegated to the opposition benches after taking a beating in the local government elections, of refusing to accept the beating and using “cheap politics” to get the council dissolved by Gauteng co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Lebohang Maile.

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