Pretoria - A special council sitting to elect a new mayor of Tshwane got off to a dramatic start with news that ActionSA fired two councillors.
Councillors Mandla Mhlana and Mpho Baloyi were found to have betrayed their party mandate by voting for former Cope councillor Dr Murunwa Makwarela as mayor instead of DA caucus leader Cilliers Brink.
Makwarela stepped down on March 10 after it was found that he submitted a fake insolvency rehabilitation certificate to city manager Johann Mettler in an attempt to be reinstated as mayor after he was disqualified as a councillor following news that the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria declared him insolvent in 2016.
In addition to council’s eventful day - Cope, which in the morning introduced Makwarela’s replacement, Justice Thabang Sefanyetso, decided to recall the same councillor just minutes after his presence was announced by Speaker Ncedi Ndzwanana.
DA mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink speaks at Tshwane House. A special council sitting to elect a new mayor in Tshwane got off to a dramatic start with breaking news that ActionSA fired its two councillors Mandla Mhlana and Mpho Baloyi. @Action4SA @CityTshwane #Tshwane @Our_DA pic.twitter.com/gR6nyBCjF5
In the light of the developments ActionSA chief whip, Kgosietsile Kgosiemang questioned the legitimacy of his party councillors in the meeting despite that they were being expelled.
He said he believed Ndzwanana was contravening the municipal structure’s Act by not declaring vacancies of council seats after councillors were kicked out by their parties.
DA caucus leader Cilliers Brink warned the speaker that the council risked the legitimacy of the election outcome by allowing the councillors in question to take part in the proceedings.
Ndzwanana, however, refused to entertain the issue on the grounds that he had not received an official communication regarding the expulsion of councillors.
“The city manager has not declared any vacancy. I am waiting for the city manager to deal with this,” he said.
In a media statement, ActionSA said the termination of membership of its two councillors arose directly from investigation that they voted for Makwarela on February 28.
Baloyi was found to have provided the EFF with a direction to the polygraph test conducted by the party in Midrand.
EFF members disrupted the test, but ActionSA said Baloyi was partially responsible for the disruption that occurred on that day.
“The investigation did not solely rely on polygraph tests, having said this, these two councillors failed tests on two separate occasions on both questions of voting against the coalition and being offered bribes for doing so,” the party said.
This week ActionSA provincial chairperson, Funzi Ngobeni, opened a criminal case at Olievenhoutbosch police station against Tshwane councillors who attempted to bribe his party councillors to vote in favour of Makwarela.
On the other hand, Cope in Gauteng said it undertook a process to evaluate all prospective candidates for the vacant PR seat in Tshwane in line with its Constitution prior to submitting the list to the Independent Electoral Commission.
“Following from the above resolution the vetting processes revealed that Justice Thabang Sefanyetso who was submitted to the IEC list by the Tshwane region is in possession of two IDs and also has a criminal record,” the party said.
Cope said in a media statement that it was “discovered that the disgraced Dr Makwarela has been calling coalition partners in Tshwane requesting them to accept and support Justice Thabang Sefanyetso as the Cope PR candidate and mayoral candidate”.
“Justice Thabang Sefanyetso has been withdrawn with immediate effect from the IEC list and his Cope membership has also been suspended with immediate effect pending his appearance before the disciplinary committee,” the party said.
It further said Sefanyetso’s matter will be referred to the SAPS and a case will be opened for an urgent investigation.
The mayoral elections are yet to get under way.
Pretoria News