Bid to stop ANC conference SOL COUNCIL MEETING POSTPONED

THE SIX ANC members who are disputing the leadership that was elected at the ANC provincial conference in Colesberg last year, will be applying for a court interdict to prevent the party’s provincial list conference from going ahead next month.

Meanwhile, the Sol Plaatje council meeting that was scheduled to take place today was postponed by the acting Speaker, Ben Springbok, yesterday afternoon, “due to safety reasons”.

The Section 106 investigation into irregularities at Sol Plaatje Municipality that was supposed to be released today, will have to be held over until the next council meeting on October 31.

Opposition councillors yesterday submitted a written request for a special council meeting today, as they suspected that the meeting would not proceed.

“We have not received any feedback,” they said.

Committee meetings have not been convening since around June, while the mayoral committee vacated office when the former Sol Plaatje executive mayor, Mangaliso Matika, resigned.

DA chief whip Christopher Phiri believed that a motion of no confidence in the acting Speaker was “long overdue”.

“Although opposition councillors are under threat, no objects were thrown at the ANC councillors’ benches. We wanted the meeting to go ahead so that council can resume its work once the mayor and Speaker are elected and a mayoral committee appointed. Postponing the meeting will only delay the inevitable, where Pula Thabane will be elected as mayor.”

Phiri added that council had security and could call in the police if needed if the council meeting went ahead today.

“The acting Speaker is entitled to close the gallery to the public. The reasons provided for the postponement puts his credibility at stake. If intelligence raised a security alert, we were never informed.

“Springbok never called in security when the bottles were thrown at opposition councillors or when members of the public disrupted the council meeting last week.”

Phiri pointed out that a Speaker was expected to be impartial and should not pledge allegiance to any political party.

“Council is on the brink of collapse, we cannot continue in this fashion.”

EFF chief whip Francis Thulo believed that the ANC was trying to buy time by postponing the meeting.

Meetings convened by the Corporate Services and Human Resources Committee, the Human Settlement Services Committee and the IDP, Budget and Performance Management Committee were cancelled yesterday as none of the councillors attended.

It is believed that the high absenteeism rate is due to the absence of a mayor, mayoral committee and chairpersons elected to lead the various committees.

This is while the Standing Rules of Order allow for the nomination of a chairperson for a specific meeting.

Despite their non-attendance, it is believed that the directors of the municipality will continue to receive the gazetted 5.1 percent salary increase, backdated to July.

Meanwhile, lawyer’s letters addressed on behalf of six ANC members to the ANC secretary-general, Ace Magashule, and the ANC provincial secretary, Deshi Ngxanga, on September 25, advised that the legality of the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) was the subject of a pending court case.

“If the list conference is to proceed with the current PEC in attendance, it will taint the legality of the list conference. We hereby request that all processes leading up to the list conference be put in abeyance by October 2 . . . failing which we will apply for an interdict to prevent the conference from proceeding.”

Magashule’s office indicated that the matter was being handled internally.

“It is concluded, no information can be disclosed – especially from headquarters.”

Ngxanga stated that they would be “vigorously opposing” any attempts to halt the provincial list conference.

“We have responded to the letter from Bekker Attorneys through our lawyers.”

He added that branches were in the process of nominating candidates to attend the list conference that is set to take place at a date to be determined in November.

Ngxanga was also “disgusted” by the circulation of a fake list of nominations for the provincial list conference.

“We are aware of those that seek to sway public opinion to advance a narrow posture that seeks to pit one ANC region against the other.”

He stated that the disciplinary process involving the 11 ANC councillors who voted against Matika, as well as that of Motlalepule Wapad, who nominated Pula Thabane to stand as mayor during a council meeting last week, was ongoing.

“We are committed to resolving the issues at the Sol Plaatje Municipality, to ensure that normality resumes at the municipality.”

Ngxanga pointed out that it would be impossible to pinpoint the culprits who had thrown bottles and other sharp objects at opposition councillors during the council meeting last week.

“The council meeting ended in absolute chaos. We are unable to ascertain whether the members of the public that threw these bottles are in fact ANC members. This will make the process of disciplining anyone involved in the chaos that erupted at the council meeting difficult.”