Tshwane council speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana has survived a motion of no confidence after the DA’s bid to oust him failed.
Through a show of hands on Thursday, 114 councillors in the multiparty governing coalition backed Ndzwanana, while 82 voted against him and one abstained.
Previously, DA caucus whip Ofentse Madzebatela called Ndzwanana a “tyrant” who runs the council like a dictator and views councillors as “subjects”. Madzebatela alleged Ndzwanana makes his rulings based on emotion and not logic or the rules of the council.
“Due to this attitude, councillors cannot participate in meetings as equal peers. His discriminatory behaviour has reached a point where parties outside the governing coalition do not have a fair say or hearing in council meetings. The speaker has developed a disposition to dismiss all proposals of the DA caucus, as legally and rationally sound as they may be.”
Ndzwanana is a deployee from the minority African Transformation Movement, who rose to the position through a power-sharing deal with the ANC, the EFF and ActionSA.
He served as council speaker in the previous administration under former DA mayor Cilliers Brink, but crossed the floor and aligned himself with the new administration led by ActionSA’s Nasiphi Moya.
Ndzwanana denied the opposition party's claims.
“I categorically deny that opposition parties are being silenced in council meetings. It’s my duty to be fair and impartial when managing debates. It is incorrect to assert that opposition parties are being silenced in council meetings. As speaker, I always and will continue to conduct and uphold fairness and impartiality in managing debates and motions.”
The ANC’s Aaron Maluleke accused the opposition of being “hypocrites of the highest order”.
“For them it is expediency. When it suits them they want us to conform to democracy, but democracy has different meanings for them. This has nothing to do with Ndzwanana, it has everything to do with the ego of the DA. When he was there [in the DA-led previous administration], Ndzwanana presided over difficult council meetings, they allowed him to participate until he was reduced to nobody by them. When he came to our side, we agreed we will face forward and defeat the DA. Not only on this motion, but on their track record of being hypocrites.”
The EFF’s Tshegofatso Mashabela, also a coalition partner, dismissed the motion as a “baseless, senseless and jealousy-driven attempt” to derail the administration.
“It is nothing but a show of anger and jealousy towards the smooth running of this council and its administration and they must be stopped. They must allow the will of the majority in this city to prevail,” she said.
ActionSA councillor Thabo Malosi echoed the sentiments, saying the motion was born of fear that the city is beginning to rise from the rubble.
“The people of Tshwane are beginning to see good governance and they like what they see. This is not a motion, it is a backlash and knee-jerk reaction invoked by those who thrive in chaos. This is sabotage in a suit, a desperate act from those who can’t stand the thought of a functioning city that does not need their politics.”
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