Tshwane mayoral election delayed after DA's Cilliers Brink's council membership questioned

A meeting of the Tshwane council was delayed on Tuesday morning after an the objection from councillors questioning Cilliers Brink's membership and presence in council.

Brink, a former DA MP tipped to be the next mayor to succeed ousted mayor Randall Williams, was welcomed by council speaker Murunwa Makwarela but to much disapproval.

EFF caucus leader Obakeng Ramabodu lambasted Brink for speaking in the media using city logos and resources before being sworn in as a member of the council.

Makwarela distanced himself from the chaos, saying Brink's membership of the council was gazetted by the office of the city manager.

ANC councillor Aaron Maluleka was concerned about how quickly it took to introduce Brink into the chambers, saying when the ANC sought to replace a councillor the process took two weeks, yet when the DA wanted to bring in Brink it only took two days.

“Vacancies must be filled as soon as the political party updates its party list, but the legislation says it must be done within 14 days. So both cases are still in line with the law,” said Makwarela.

The speaker said he would refer the matter to the council's section 79 rules and ethics committee for deliberation.

Ramabodu also raised a concern about the mayoral committee members (MMCs) being unsure about their position after the mayhem caused by Randall's resignation.

“Those MMCs benefited unduly from council resources and were paid bloated salaries and the usage of luxury cars that are availed to mayoral committee members, despite the legal ruling that the first resignation was in effect and their mayoral committee was illegally operating,” said Ramabodu.

The speaker referred the matter to the ethics and rules committee, with the intention of proceeding with the election of a new mayor.

Last week the governing coalition partners — the DA, Freedom Front Plus, ActionSA, ACDP and IFP — had a fallout with speaker Makwarela from COPE. The coalition partners threatened to table a motion of no confidence in Makwarela after he did not allow an urgent mayoral election special council meeting to urgently elect a new mayor, arguing the IEC would not be ready to hold an election.

The DA in Gauteng has announced it is backing its national spokesperson Brink for the position of mayor.

Brink is said to have been endorsed by the multiparty coalition partners, who hope to have him elected at the first available opportunity.

TimesLIVE understands parties who voted in favour of Brink were the ANC, EFF, the ATM, the African Independence Congress, Patriotic Alliance and the Republican Conference of Tshwane. 

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