EFF walks out as deputy mayor elected

The first council meeting of 2024 at Tshwane House yesterday was disruptive, chaotic and saw a walkout by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) amid the election of a deputy mayor.

Chaos ensued after the council held a special meeting to elect the new deputy mayor for the city, ActionSA’s Dr Nasiphi Moya.

“Today I stand before you filled with immense gratitude and honour as I accept the privilege of serving as your deputy executive mayor in the City of Tshwane. I am deeply proud to join this esteemed council comprising dedicated men and women who have tirelessly served the people of our incredible city,” she said.

A municipal worker who spoke anonymously asked how Tshwane had the finances to appoint a new deputy mayor when it had refused to pay municipal workers an increase last year which saw South African Municipal Workers Union members go on strike, bringing the city to a standstill.

Tshwane EFF caucus leader Obakeng Ramabodu opposed Moya’s appointment and led a walkout of the party from council after accusing her of fraud.

The EFF has accused Moya of booking a trip to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia during her term in office as chief of staff, receiving spending money for the trip, not going on the trip and not paying back the money received for the trip, which had cost the city R165 940.

”We want to know if she paid back [to] the city the R10 000 pocket money – if not, she is not fit to be in this council. If she did go on the trip, she must produce her passport as evidence,” he said.

Ramabodu said he wasn’t against the appointment of a deputy mayor, but that the candidate was not suited for the position.

He also said considering the city’s financial position, the decision to appoint a deputy mayor was imprudent.

But ActionSA Gauteng provincial chair Funzi Ngobeni said the EFF’s claims were baseless

“ActionSA rejects the EFF’s baseless claims... These issues, which they have raised now, should have been raised at the time with the then executive mayor who issued the instructions for the trip to Saudi Arabia,” he said.

Ngobeni said the EFF’s desperate move to only raise this issue after all these years smacked of political grandstanding, considering that at the time of the allegation, the EFF was in a cooperative arrangement with the government at the time.

“It must be noted that Moya neither went on the trip with the delegation to Saudi Arabia nor issued instructions to that effect.

“Unsurprisingly, the EFF raises these unfounded claims now to score cheap political points,” said Ngobeni.