Tshwane City Council (Photo: Selby Bokaba/Twitter)
The multi-party coalition in the Tshwane metro on Wednesday submitted an urgent application to the North Gauteng High Court against Mncedi Ndzwanana’s refusal to convene council meetings to hear a motion of no confidence in his actions as the speaker of the metro and to accept budgets .
Following this, Ndzwanana, speaker and member of the African Transformation Movement (ATM), did convene the meetings that he had earlier refused at the request of the majority of councilors in the Tshwane metro.
The multi-party coalition already indicated last week that they consider legal action after an intended motion of no confidence in the speaker did not take place.
Ndzwanana adjourned the council meeting before the motion could go before the council and labeled the meeting as “illegal”.
“Petitions were presented to the speaker last week and signed by the majority of Tshwane councillors. These council members requested meetings to discuss a motion of no confidence in the speaker on April 12 and to table budgets on April 13,” said Dr. Corné Mulder, chairman of the coalition monitoring group in Tshwane, said in a joint statement of the multi-party coalition.
Pursuant to art. 29(1) of the Municipal Structures Act, the speaker is obliged to convene a meeting when requested by the majority of council members.
“Despite this, the speaker refused in a written response to issue notices for this. This is a blatant attempt to frustrate the majority in the multi-party coalition to the benefit of the ANC and EFF who are still pulling the speaker’s strings to destabilize the government in Tshwane.”
According to Mulder, the multi-party coalition’s legal action aims to force the requested council meetings of 12 and 13 April immediately; to prevent the speaker from adjourning or interfering with the council meeting; and to prohibit the speaker and all councilors from organizing any illegal activities aimed at disrupting these council meetings, or participating in such activities. A punitive costs order against the speaker is also requested for his illegal actions which necessitated the coalition’s urgent court application.
“The multi-party coalition will not tolerate the continued illegal actions of the ANC, EFF and their partners in the Tshwane Metro Council to overthrow operations and regain control of the city.
“All political parties in our multi-party coalition will jointly litigate this case as co-applicants as we continue to work together to provide a stable and effective coalition.”
