4 days ago
DA moves wants to oust Tshwane Speaker in motion of no confidence
DA moves wants to oust Tshwane Speaker in motion of no confidence
The DA in Tshwane has moved to oust the Speaker of Council, Mncedi Ndzwanana, through a motion of no confidence set to be brought in council later this month.
The motion is expected to be tabled during a council meeting on June 26.
The DA accused the Speaker of making council rulings based on emotions instead of logic or the rules of council, and acting as a dictator.
Chief whip of the DA in Tshwane, Ofentse Madzebatela, said councillors cannot participate in meetings as equal peers due to this attitude by the Speaker.
'Since 2023, Tshwane's Council Chamber, which is meant to serve as a beacon of democracy, has been subjected to the tyranny of a Speaker of Council, who runs it like a dictator, who views councillors as his subjects,' Madzebatela explained.
The DA claimed that the Speaker's discriminatory behaviour has reached a point where parties outside of the governing coalition do not have a fair say or hearing in council meetings.
Madzebatela said the Speaker has developed a disposition to dismiss all propositions of the DA Caucus, as legally and rationally sound as they may be.
These include:
– Points of order;
– Requests for deliberation on reports and amendments to reports;
– Recommendations; and
– Motions brought before the council, especially when they do not favour his coalition partners.
Madzebatela said at the meeting of May 29, the DA Caucus expressed its dissent with a report tabled to the Council on the establishment of the Economic Growth Advisory Committee. It was argued that it was replicating the work of many other committees already in existence.
'We requested a vote on the report, in terms of Section 39 of the Rules and Orders By-Laws (2012). The Speaker denied the DA Caucus the opportunity to exercise its right to vote. Endorsing this report was not only unethical, but also an additional cost burden for the city.
'Furthermore, at the council meeting of April 24, the Speaker denied the DA the opportunity to debate motions brought before Council, even with it having fulfilled all the requirements as per the Rules and Orders By-Laws of Council.'
Madzebatela said subsequent to that, in the very same council meeting, the Speaker acceded to having ruled incorrectly with regard to the debating of the motions. He claimed the Speaker is both indecisive and impulsive.
'The Speaker has been at the helm of a new administration that brought oversight to a complete halt towards the end of 2024. For a period of almost four months, committee meetings of the Council failed to take place, either being postponed or cancelled.'
He said it was only after the DA's public outcry that some sort of stability prevailed and committee meetings were resuscitated in February this year.
'How are democratically elected public representatives expected to represent their constituencies when their voices are being stifled? This is not symbolic of representative democracy; it is tantamount to censorship.'
Madzebatela said they will remove the Speaker and restore democracy to Tshwane's Council chamber.
Speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana reacted by saying, 'My rulings in all Council sittings are not based on emotions, but are guided strictly by the Rules and Orders By-law.'
Nzwanana denied silencing opposition parties in council meetings.
'I categorically deny that opposition parties are being silenced. No political party is being denied its right to speak,' he added.
He said the motion is purely political and without merit.
'It is wholly incorrect to claim that opposition parties are being silenced. I have always upheld fairness and impartiality when managing debates and motions.
'All councillors enjoy the freedom of debate during Council meetings, and this is evident from the recorded proceedings, which are live-streamed on YouTube,' the Speaker noted.
He said the shallow allegations that his office is denying committee members and councillors the opportunity to hold the executive accountable are completely false.
'The claim that the new administration is evading accountability or disregarding legislative processes is misleading and untrue,' he said.
'As the Speaker, I speak on behalf of the Legislature, not the city as a whole. Statements about the city fall under the purview of the executive.'
Ndzwanana further stated that he read the reasons submitted in the motion of no confidence and confirmed that those reasons are without merit.
'I do not need to mount a defence against the motion. The truth will prevail, and the council meeting will proceed in line with the rules on June 26.'
Michael Beaumont, ActionSA's National Chairperson, said the DA's tabling of this motion is an act of desperation designed to destabilise a government that is showing clear signs of a turnaround after years of failed government.
'It should be rejected by residents of Tshwane, and Gauteng more broadly, as an act of insecurity by a party that has no answers to the service delivery needs of the residents of this province,' Beaumont said.
He said ActionSA does not doubt that when the motion is tabled in council, the DA will stand alone, 'in a fitting display of how the party has isolated itself through its legacy of bad governance, financial mismanagement and service delivery failure'.
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