Fists fly as council sits in Ekurhuleni

State of the City address by mayor descends into a brawl.

Mayor delivers speech outside after being silenced by opposition in chambers.

Fists flew during the State of the City address by Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina yesterday, while opposition councillors were forcefully being removed from the council chamber by metro police.

The chaos erupted when members of the opposition parties refused to allow Masina to speak, demanding that the speaker, Patricia Kumalo, give them a report on her investigation into violence that broke out during a previous council meeting on March 16.

DA councillor Simon Lapping was injured and had to be rushed to hospital as a result of the brawl.

When Masina was unable to deliver the address to the council, he delivered his speech to the public outside, flanked by members of his mayoral committee.

At the meeting the DA brought a motion of no confidence against Masina, following the alleged mass collapse of almost every level of service delivery.

At the meeting people wearing T-shirts allegedly man-handled EFF councillors and ordinary party members during the tea break.

“We wanted the speaker to give us an assurance that we were safe in the council chambers as councillors,” EFF councillor and regional leader, Mampuru Mampuru, said yesterday.

A long exchange ensued between the opposition party members and Kumalo, who refused to give the report back as demanded. Instead she ordered the noisy councillors to be quiet. When they continued she ordered all of them to go, but they refused.

The speaker allegedly lost control of the proceedings as the councillors from the EFF, DA, Cope, Freedom Front Plus, IFP and PAC insisted that Kumalo give feedback of her investigation and assure them of their safety.

DA council chief whip, Tania Campbell, accused Kumalo of not listening to the opposition parties.

“The speaker still did not listen to my pleas that she must rather recuse herself from the council meeting or stop the meeting.

“The speaker could not control the meeting and she did not listen to us, otherwise the meeting could not have degenerated like this,” Campbell said.

The speaker’s office promised to issue a media statement to “put the record straight”, but it had not arrived at the time of going to print.

Speaker’s office spokesperson, Sphelele Nxele, defended Kumalo’s decision. She said due to recurring points of order by the EFF and after the speaker had ruled on the matter and before Masina delivered his speech, undue disruptions continued throwing the council meeting into disorder.

“This led to decisive action being taken by the speaker, in her capacity as the presiding officer of the meeting.”

“According to Ekurhuleni council’s standing orders, the speaker of council has the responsibility to maintain order in meetings.

“The office of the speaker would like to distance itself from any reports that insinuate incorrect procedure was followed in council and unequivocally states that any such reporting only seeks to be sensationalist.

“The speaker of council acted within her legal and procedural authority,” Nxele said.

We wanted assurance that we were safe in the council chambers.