Acting Speaker chairs meeting

DESPITE a rift in the top structures of the ANC-led Sol Plaatje City Council, the municipal budget for 2018/19 was passed at the last minute before yesterday’s deadline.

While the current Speaker, Santa Johnson, who has been recalled by the ANC Frances Baard Regional Executive Committee (REC), was not at the meeting, Charles Ngoma was nominated as acting Speaker for the meeting, which went ahead as normal.

The opposition benches in the council remained virtually empty with none of the DA councillors in attendance. Only one Cope councillor, one EFF councillor and the Freedom Plus Front’s Wynand Boshoff, attended from the ranks of the opposition.

Thirty-four councillors were needed to form a quorum and, according to the municipal manager, Goolam Akharwaray, there were 36 councillors present.

At the beginning of the meeting, which only started after ANC members present held a caucus meeting in the council chambers, during which the public gallery remained locked with chains, Akharwaray announced that as the Speaker was not present he declared the meeting open and called for nominations for an acting Speaker for the meeting.

Ngoma was the only person nominated and he took his seat next to the municipal manager to chair the meeting.

Before he presented his budget speech, the executive mayor, Mangaliso Matika, apologised to the community “for the incident yesterday (Wednesday)”. He, however, did not elaborate further on details of the incident.

“We have resolved as the ANC that we will take collective responsibility and will ensure that the incident will never repeat itself again under our watch.”

He then continued to deliver his budget speech.