Speaker wants no disruption at budget meeting

IT’S BEEN a year since ANC councillors threw their agendas on to the floor and disrupted a full council meeting to protest against the draft budget being tabled before all the documents had been circulated – and the Speaker is taking no chances of a possible repeat performance at today’s budget meeting.

Speaker Dirk Smit met yesterday with the party whips and leaders of the opposition parties to discuss “contentious issues” that could cause “unnecessary delays and disruption” during the council meeting.

“Political grandstanding and trading insults can never be a substitute for constructive political debate, and cannot solve the concerns of the people we represent,” said Smit.

But Smit’s pre-emptive strike was slammed by the ANC, who said he was putting the blame for the chaos that erupted at another meeting, in January, on the opposition.

“The (Speaker) has consistently shown to be out of his depth handling the affairs of the House. The Speaker has also proven to be dishonest in every meeting he holds with opposition parties and negotiates in bad faith,” said ANC chief whip, Xolani Sotashe.

The council will today table the draft budget so that it can be released for public comment.

This comes after the January meeting had to be reconvened at a new venue because the ANC refused to obey the Speaker’s instruction to leave the Chamber.

The party was unhappy with the application of various council rules, including a request by deputy mayor Ian Neilson to suspend further debate on the controversial demolition of houses in Wynberg for the MyCiTi bus service.

Smit agreed to Neilson’s request, leaving opposition party councillors who were on the list to speak without an opportunity to raise their objections.

When the meeting was adjourned, and moved to a new venue, the metro police were called in to bar the ANC. Councillors and law enforcement officers were injured in the fracas which ensued on the Concourse of the Civic Centre, in full view of the public.

Smit said yesterday: “Let there be no doubt, I will relocate the meeting if anyone disrupts the meeting. Unfortunately at this point the ANC is trying to grab frivolous arguments to build around that, and to make the metro ungovernable.” Smit said all the other opposition parties had welcomed the opportunity to raise issues before the meeting.

But for the ANC, Smit’s apparent move had compromised his independence. “The Speaker and his party, anticipating that the same concerns will arise, have prepared another secret venue and done block booking. But the ANC cannot let the Speaker of the House, who is supposed to be non-partisan, to be an instrument of frustrating the opposition. As a result the Speaker has compromised his office.” – Anél Lewis