Pretoria - The EFF in Tshwane has expressed the intention to join forces with other political parties with a view to oust the incumbent council speaker Dr Murunwa Makwarela.
Makwarela, the sole Cope councillor in Tshwane, has been accused by the party of being biased and abusing his powers as a council presiding officer.
The EFF spoke up against Makwarela after he hosted a virtual meeting this week against the approval of the political party. It was not the first time that Makwarela came under attack for hosting an online meeting as he did the same following a disruption caused by EFF councillors during a budget speech in May.
Previously the EFF had complained that councillors were not told on time that the meeting would be virtual and that such meetings were called to “suppress” other people’s views. “You don’t want a different view and are scared of EFF councillors,” EFF regional leader Obakeng Ramabodu said at the time.
Some coalition partners have previously defended Makwarela’s decision for hosting online meetings, saying they were done for the safety of council members who had been under attack on several occasions.
Yesterday, Ramabodu said the EFF was unhappy with the speaker for disregarding council rules and “ignoring those who hold different views and abusing his powers” by hosting meetings on virtual platforms.
“As the EFF we have lost confidence in the speaker of council,” he said.
It was just a matter of time that by talking to different political parties “we can remove him as the speaker because he doesn’t represent the majority of councillors”, Ramabodu said.
“He is there to serve only a multiparty even when they don’t follow the rules. They went all over to disregard and undermine the rules of council to satisfy their multiparty that is about to collapse following the Joburg and Ekurhuleni developments. They now know even Tshwane may be on the line for changes.”
The DA Joburg (former) council speaker Vasco da Gama was recently replaced by Cope’s Colleen Makhubela and DA mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse was shown the door to make way for the ANC’s Dada Morero.
These developments are believed to have signalled possibilities of changes in both Ekurhuleni and Tshwane, where parties are expected to gun for DA mayors.
Pretoria News