Tshwane still leaderless as council sitting fails

The attempt to vote in a new Tshwane mayor did not bear any fruit after the required quorum was not met during a council sitting on Tuesday morning.

The DA, which has 93 seats, could not proceed with the matter because 15 more members were needed to reach the required 108.

Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Lebogang Maile said he felt vindicated by the failed council sitting.

“The DA leaders should hang their heads in shame for abusing public resources by calling this impromptu council sitting intended to delegitimise the Gauteng executive committee decision to place the municipality under administration,” Maile said in a statement.

This comes after the city was placed under administration last week.

READ: Why Tshwane is under administration

During the announcement, Gauteng Premier David Makhura cited the ongoing squabbles between political parties as one of the reasons for the administration, coupled with ongoing corruption, lack of service delivery and the flouting of procurement processes.

The municipality is expected to be dissolved in two weeks and then an administrator will run the show until by-elections are held.

The city has been left leaderless for almost two weeks after former DA mayor Stevens Mokgalapa resigned in early February, while Augustine Makgata’s arrangement as acting municipal manager was not extended.

ANC Tshwane caucus leader Kgosi Maepa also took to Twitter to gloat about the botched attempt by the DA to elect a new leader.

The governing party and its ally, the EFF, were both not present at the sitting.

“There are seven parties in council, clearly DA coalition collapsed. Why is the media blaming the ANC for the collapse of council, where is the DA coalition that governed?’’ Maepa said.

READ: Mondli Makhanya: Tshwane farce shows coalition politics cannot work in SA 

At the same time, the DA is still pursing legal action against the decision to place the city under administration, stating that the proper procedures were not taken to dissolve council and place the city under administration in terms of section 139 (1) (a).

Just after Makhura’s announcement last week, the party was sent two lawyers’ letters which question the processes which were taken by Maile and Makhura to dissolve council.

Attorneys Minde Schapiro & Smith, acting for the DA, asked for confirmation on whether the intervention was made under the terms of section 139(1)(c) of the Constitution.

Linked to this question, they asked whether notices were sent to Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, as well as the Gauteng Legislature and the National Council of Provinces.

The lawyers then requested that they be provided with copies of these notices.

They also asked whether an administrator had been appointed, saying that if this had happened, a copy of the notice – as required by section 35(2) of the Local Government Municipal Structures Act – should be forwarded to them.

They have also requested a copy of the resolution by the Gauteng executive committee, which decided to intervene because of the ongoing fracas.

In a second letter, also addressed to the premier and MEC, the lawyers requested that the Gauteng executive committee list the reasons that led to the decision to place the municipality under administration.

The premier was also dealing with another issue pertaining to his utterances that tenders were irregularly awarded to Aurecon in Tshwane.

The company has gone on to label these allegations to be “factually incorrect’’.

“We have written to the premier today to contest the province’s assertion that a property audit contract awarded to Aurecon was proof of the city’s flagrant disregard for the Municipal Finance Management Act and was awarded irregularly,’’ the company said in a statement.

Aurecon said they were not aware of any formal investigation into the award of the tender that was made by the City of Tshwane, and there had been no finding of wrongdoing in how it was issued or in how it was conducted.

Queenin Masaubi Political journalist | City Press

+27 11 713 9001 Queenin.Masuabi@citypress.co.za Media Park, 69 Kingsway Road, Auckland Park

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