ANC also staged walkouts
In response to councillor Rory Riordan’s letter, “Council got through long agenda” (March 5), it seems that the forgetful Riordan has forgotten the numerous times the ANC caucus, along with its coalition partners, EFF, UDM and others, walked out of council meetings during 2016 up to 2018, when the ANC was in the opposition.
All parties stage walkouts and such walkouts are one of many tools in the box of any political party caucus.
When the speaker of council cannot maintain order, adjudicates matters in an unbiased manner and disregards rules at will, a walkout is completely in order.
Two DA councillors were physically threatened by PA councillor Marlon Daniels with no protection or intervention from the speaker.
Such attacks, when allowed by a speaker, infringe upon the security of councillors, and lower the dignity and decorum of council.
If the speaker simply fulfills her prescribed duties as a chairperson in terms of the Municipal Structures Act and our council rules, perhaps then council meetings can be conducted in a fashion befitting a place where the people’s representatives meet to debate their needs.
Our walkout was as a direct result of the speaker’s inability to enforce our rules of council and protect DA councillors from unacceptable physical threats.
Meetings late into the night and early mornings are a manifestation of the speaker’s ineptitude and partisanship that compromise her ability to manage meetings properly.
The prolonged debate on ANC “councillor” Bongo Nombiba was a necessary debate.
The DA caucus maintains its view that Nombiba is a convicted criminal and thus disqualified from serving as a councillor.
The three-hour debate in this regard was not wasted.
The DA did what it had to do as the opposition.
Regarding the legal opinions from the attorneys, the speaker did not permit the DA to ask what brief was given to the attorneys – so much for transparency on such an important issue.
The ANC and Riordan are, however, more than happy to have criminals serve on their benches and their administration as they do at a provincial and national level.
I need not remind readers of the jug incident where DA councillor Rano Kayser was viciously assaulted and severely injured by ANC councillor Andile Lungisa.
Riordan’s proud membership of the ANC that was ignominiously led by Jacob Zuma, that has corruptly captured the state and continues to harbour criminals in its ranks is both ironic and sanctimonious, and so too was his dogged defence of Linda Mti, who has now been inextricably linked to the Bosasa corruption.
As regards the DA not attending the municipal public accounts committee meetings to consider the annual report, it is standard procedure and in terms of our rules of council for the mayor to table reports.
This is usually followed by input from political parties.
The annual report was not tabled at the council meeting of January 31 and no debate ensued. Therefore, the DA cannot in good conscience participate in MPAC meetings when the tabling of the annual report failed at its first hurdle in council.
The manner in which matters are tabled and dealt with in council is regulated by law.
The DA’s absence from MPAC is thus justified by the fact that council is non-compliant and we’ve raised this with the MEC.
Riordan would like to perpetuate bad governance by ignoring these laws and procedures.
The DA will not be party to such.
So successful was the “ruling coalition” that it passed Thursday’s adjustments budget which curiously takes money away from the northern areas, Uitenhage and KwaNobuhle.
Furthermore, an agenda item was introduced to council at 1am on Friday morning, whereby suspended officials who had been suspended for very good reasons were to be reinstated!
How is it possible that Riordan can have such a change of heart in agreeing to reinstating the very officials that he and Danny Jordaan tried to get rid of?