DA in Joburg slams ANC for rejecting motion it had already approved

11 November 2022 - 18:25 By SISANDA MBOLEKWA
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
The ANC and several smaller parties in the Johannesburg city council meeting on Friday voted against a motion to apply for a R2bn loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
The ANC and several smaller parties in the Johannesburg city council meeting on Friday voted against a motion to apply for a R2bn loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
Image: VELI NHLAPO/ File photo

The DA has accused the ANC and its minority coalition partners of doing everything in their power to collapse the city of Johannesburg in a desperate bid to return to power.

This comes after the ANC and several smaller parties in the Johannesburg city council meeting on Friday voted against a motion to apply for a R2bn loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), which the ANC and its partners had approved on October 27 when they were still in power.

TimesLIVE has seen a city of Johannesburg document that shows the ANC-led coalition approved the motion to apply for the loan to boost the city's liquidity position. The document was  signed by then MMC Margaret Arnolds from the African Independent Congress.

But now the fuming DA has stopped short of accusing the ANC and its minority coalition of hypocrisy and deliberately attempting to plunge the city into trouble out of desperation to get back into government.

The motion on the loan was rejected by the ANC and its partners with a combined 136 votes, with the DA and its governing partners garnering only 81 votes.

MMC for finance Judie Suddaby said she was “disappointed” that some parties were prepared to compromise service delivery by rejecting that which they had approved a few weeks ago simply because they were out of power.

“I am disappointed. It is more disappointing that the power play for Johannesburg seems to be more important than delivering services to our 6-million residents.

“The interim government in October had the very same loan on the table. Councillor  Margaret Arnolds had signed off on this loan application and had the courts not overturned the council meeting that removed mayor (Mpho) Phalatse from office, this loan would have been presented and in fact, approved,” Suddaby said.

Suddaby alleged that the same councillors who had voted against the loan on Friday would have voted in favour had the vote t taken place at that time.

“All I can say is that it is a disingenuous decision that has been made in council today, and councillors have disappointed the residents of Johannesburg.”

Regarding the implications of the loan not being obtained, Suddaby maintained that the payment of salaries would not be affected but some service delivery projects may be hampered.

“I’ve been in conversation with all the department heads and we will have to sharpen our pencils and tighten our belts, but we are not on the brink of collapse,” she added.

ANC councillors accused Suddaby of not being honest about the city’s finances.

The ANC’s Adolph Marema, who also serves on the city’s finance portfolio committee, said when his caucus leader Dada Morero told the residents that the city was in a financial crisis a few weeks ago, this was denied by Phalatse.

“The DA has a problem of saying one thing in council and saying something else in public. If the city has money like they assured us they do, why are they requesting council to approve this DBSA loan?” Marema asked.

He said the truth was now in the open.

“The city is not in a good condition. It is broke. This is not surprising — where they govern, they collapse. Look at Ekurhuleni, Look at Tshwane. But you will find them tweeting that the city is fine, when things are falling apart. Are they governing on Twitter or in real life?” Marema asked.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.