Tshwane EFF slams DA and ActionSA for ‘subjecting councillors to lie detector tests’

The Tshwane EFF has lambasted the DA and ActionSA, saying they intend to subject councillors to lie detector tests after the secret-ballot election of new executive mayor Murunwa Makwarela.

Makwarela received 112 votes and the DA’s Cilliers Brink received 101 votes, suggesting some councillors from the DA-led coalition camp defied the coalition mandate and voted for Makwarela.

National spokesperson for the DA-led coalition Dr Cornè Mulder said the coalition would investigate councillors who voted for Makwarela and remove them. 

EFF chairperson Obakeng Ramabodu said the decision by DA and ActionSA violated councillors’ constitutional right to fulfil their responsibilities effectively , saying schedule three of the Municipal Structures Act empowers councillors to elect office-bearers through a secret ballot if more than one candidate accepts a nomination.

“The ‘lie detector tests’ against councillors doing their work are not just morally inappropriate but also inhumane and insensitive for the DA and ActionSA. The election of the executive mayor is a legislative competence of the municipal council exercised by 213 duly-elected members,” said the chairperson.

ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont confirmed the party had initiated a process to identify any councillors within their ranks in Tshwane who may have deviated from the decisions of the ActionSA caucus to support Brink’s candidacy for mayor at the council meeting held on February 28.

The party believes eight councillors from within the multiparty coalition supported COPE’s favoured candidate Makwarela, ultimately helping to elect him. It is unknown which parties these eight councillors were from.

“ActionSA asserts that political parties have a dual duty to protect a legitimate vote of conscience as well as to protect the residents of Tshwane from votes being cast in exchange for financial or other kinds of inducements.

“It is also worth noting that despite ActionSA having a provision in its constitution which requires any councillor wishing to cast a vote of conscience to follow a prescribed procedure, no councillor followed this procedure.”

They said they were concerned by allegations that the eight councillors were motivated by promises of money and higher-paying positions, which they believed suggested bribery.

“To balance the concerns of a protected vote of conscience against the abuse of concealing vote-buying, ActionSA has written to our Tshwane caucus and required any councillor who voted to support Makwarela to provide written reasons to justify their decision as a vote of conscience.”

In the absence of such explanations, further measures would be considered — including a unanimous request made by the caucus to initiate polygraph testing — Beaumont said.

Ramabodu said selective lie detector tests on democratic processes of the municipal council undermined the competence of the council to function freely and fairly.

“Tshwane EFF will not remain silent when municipal council decisions and outcomes are violated by forces outside the municipal chamber. The Tshwane municipal council is constituted by 15 political parties. The outcome of the executive mayor’s election is a collective exercise of the municipal council. Why has this matter been relegated to political party squabbles?” the chairperson asked.

Ramabodu said the decision by the DA and ActionSA was not just a political party matter but a dangerous action to decimate and incapacitate the Tshwane municipal council and must be opposed by all parties.

“The secret ballot is premised on the consciousness of respective councillors and their gravitation to persuasion, which should never be manipulated by a machine to achieve political ends. The DA and ActionSA's dangerous stunts must be curtailed before they put all members of the municipal council at risk.

“The frivolity of this ill-conceived idea has the potential to destabilise the council and precipitate assassinations, which have characterised political intolerance in our society. Tshwane EFF calls on the parties to resist this ludicrous move to preserve the culture and climate of political independence in our municipal council,” he said.

The Tshwane red berets’ leader called on the office of the speaker to discourage this action and explore the intervention of the SA Local Government Association and IEC to protect the municipal council.

“Clearly, this move tentatively transgresses the provisions of the electoral legislation meant to ensure credible processes of governance in the municipal councils. This decision by the DA and ActionSA amounts to victimisation of councillors, who have an obligation to carry out the duties of council as legally and ethically as possible,” said Ramabodu.

He said while political parties reserved the right to guide councillors, subjecting councillors to a lie detector test was disgraceful and constituted personal violation of the highest order.

“Even if the DA and ActionSA can go as far as procuring the services of a prophet, sangoma or fortune-teller to establish the so-called distractors, Tshwane EFF will remain vehemently opposed to the abuse of secret ballot outcomes as facilitated by the municipal council.”

Ramabodu commended all political parties who decided not to partake in a “humiliating, unconstitutional and illegal” stance against their councillors.

“Furthermore, we will lobby councillors to pursue legal action should this move proceed.”

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