The multiparty coalition running Johannesburg, SA’s richest metropolitan council, has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to rein in ANC councillors after they disrupted the first council meeting of the year, which was due to elect a chair of chairs as well as chairs of portfolio committees.
If the disruptions continue they could render the country’s economic powerhouse unable to pass either its budget for 2022/2023 or the integrated development plan, the metro’s blueprint for service delivery.
The delay in electing a chair of chairs and chairs of portfolio committees could affect the delivery of services to Joburg’s 5-million residents and hamper the legislature from playing an oversight role on the executive.
The municipality, which has a budget of R73.3bn for 2021/2022, is crucial for the national economy as it contributes nearly 20% to GDP and about 40% to the economy of Gauteng, SA’s economic hub.
The ructions in the city council on January 13, which left some staff injured and the metro laying criminal charges, comes two months after DA councillor Mpho Phalatse was elected executive mayor of Joburg, beating ANC councillor and former mayor Mpho Moerane, after the local government elections on November 1 2021 in which the ANC’s support fell below the 50% mark for the first time since 1994.
As no political party received a majority of votes to govern Joburg, the EFF surprisingly voted for DA mayors in all Gauteng’s three metros in a move they described as keeping the ANC out of Joburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.
After Thursday’s chaos, the Joburg metro has beefed up its security as it looks to reconvene the council meeting on Tuesday to elect a chair of chairs and chairs of portfolio committees.
“The powers of chairs [of portfolio committees] are far-reaching in terms of oversight — they can summon the mayor to appear before them. And before a budget comes before council, it goes through the committee first, while the chair of chairs, in consultation with the speaker [and] mayor, looks at the programme of council,” ActionSA councillor John Moodey said.
He was addressing a media briefing on Monday together with leaders from the DA, the Congress of the People (COPE), the Freedom Front Plus (FF+), the Patriotic Alliance and the IFP, all of whom are part of the multiparty coalition.
FF+ leader Pieter Groenewald called on Ramaphosa, as the ANC’s leader, to intervene in the metro by instructing his party’s councillors to respect the will of the people. “I appeal today that he must intervene immediately ... to ensure their [ANC] members respect democracy,” he said.
Groenewald said it was ironic that Ramaphosa used his weekly newsletter to call on people to uphold, protect and preserve SA’s constitutional democracy, “but his own members in the Joburg council don’t do that”. If Ramaphosa did not intervene he would be nothing else “but a hypocrite”, Groenewald said.
Groenewald pointed out that what was happening had national implications. He said it was possible the ANC could lose power in the 2024 national election, raising the question: would the party be willing to give up power if it lost the election?
“If you allow, on a regional level, for people to disrupt, use violence, disrespect democracy, how can you then have expectations that on a provincial and national level the ANC government can hand over power if they lose?”
COPE councillor Colleen Makhubele allayed fears that the multiparty coalition was unstable, saying there “are no cracks, there is no instability or issues with the coalition”.
“We strongly condemn what happened in council on January 13. We’ve got the first female black mayor, who is very competent and capable of turning the City of Joburg around,” said Makhubele.
She stressed that Thursday’s disruptions were by those who had lost power and were trying to destabilise the multiparty coalition and, by extension, the course of democracy. “Not getting a secret ballot does not give you the right to protest in a manner that is unacceptable,” she said.
ANC caucus leader Moerane told Business Day that “we are not changing our stance” on the party’s request that voting be done through a secret ballot on Tuesday.
“It’s up to them to convince us otherwise. In the last council meeting the [DA] speaker [Vasco da Gama] did not convince us. He was bullying us, he was not consulting us, he was in a hurry for councillors to cast their votes,” he said.
“If you bully us, we are not going to accept that. When we raise issues, convince us if you don’t agree with us. We are not there to disrupt council, we are there to make sure that council works through democratic processes.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.