DA launches bid to remove two EFF committee chairs
As the EFF leads the charge to remove Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Retief Odendaal from office, the DA has hit back, filing motions for the removal of two of the red berets’ councillors who head critical council committees.
DA councillor Rano Kayser filed motions on Monday for the removal of EFF chair Khanya Ngqisha from the position of municipal public accounts committee (MPAC) chair and fellow EFF councillor Ntombizanele Sikawuti as the head of the rules and ethics committee.
The reasons listed in the motions, seen by The Herald, include claims that Ngqisha infringed on the rights of Bay citizens by “threatening and inciting violence” in the lead-up to the national shutdown the EFF organised in March.
Kayser said Sikawuti was unsuited for the position of chair of the ethics committee because meetings of the committee failed to sit under her watch.
He said this was due to her lack of understanding of council policies and procedures.
Kayser also raised what he described as defamatory attacks by the EFF on deputy mayor Khusta Jack.
Jack was under fire when it first emerged through an auditor-general’s report that two companies purportedly linked to him were allegedly doing business with the metro. Jack vehemently denied any wrongdoing and the AG later cleared him of any involvement with one of the companies flagged. A finding still has to be made on the second firm.
The EFF has dismissed the motions, labelling them as desperate and ill-fated “as the DA senses the end is nigh to its political control of city hall”.
Yesterday, Kayser denied that the motions were a reaction to the petition submitted to speaker Gary van Niekerk to convene a special council meeting on May 26 to unseat the DA-led coalition government in the city.
“We have always been consistent since March that the defamation against the deputy mayor is not in line with the conduct of councillors,” Kayser said.
Asked why the motions were only submitted after the no-confidence motions against Odendaal, Jack and chief whip Bill Harington were filed, Kayser said it was “simply because the next council meeting is scheduled for May 31”.
Referring to the EFF’s shutdown, Kayser said in the motion that by threatening that the party would physically inspect if any shopping centres would be open on March 20, he believed Ngqisha had instigated fear that led to businesses having to hire private security guards to safeguard their operations.
“Councillor Ngqisha incited violence through his threat and infringed on the rights of citizens not attending work, expending large amounts of money protecting themselves and their properties and were prevented from enjoying their rights as the constitution envisions.
“I thus believe that councillor Ngqisha has made himself guilty of threats of violence, incitement ... and the harassment and deprivation of rights of many citizens of Gqeberha and surrounds,” Kayser wrote in his motion.
There was a heavy police presence in the metro on the day of the shutdown and most businesses operated with little to no disturbance.
Despite intermittent scuffles with marchers and members of the EFF, police made no arrests.
Ngqisha said the motion to have him removed was an attention-seeking stunt.
“GOOD tried the same thing by filing a motion to remove the council speaker [Gary van Niekerk].
“It’s an attention-seeking stunt that is ill-fated because they no longer have the numbers,” he said.
On Sikawuti, Kayser said the rules and ethics committee chair was incompetent.
“The committee she chairs is yet to have one successful sitting due to incorrect procedures and processes being utilised.”
Sikawuti said the DA was trying to “moderate” how the party fought against corruption, saying all the points the EFF had raised in council were valid.
She said no-one had ever felt threatened or attacked by the EFF.
“We have said that we need to go to an induction as a committee because a majority of the people have said this is our first time in the committee.
“We also find ourselves in an unusual position where council has said it wants us to deliberate and bring a verdict,” Sikawuti said.