Pretoria - The DA and ActionSA have undertaken to identify councillors suspected of having voted against the multiparty coalition partners’ mandate to back former DA MP Cilliers Brink as the City of Tshwane mayor.
However, ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont yesterday disputed a claim by the EFF that his party would subject councillors to lie-detector tests after they betrayed the party and voted for former council speaker Dr Murunwa Makwarela as the new executive mayor during a secret ballot on Tuesday.
Makwarela, who was backed by EFF and the ANC, clinched 112 votes against Brink’s 101.
EFF regional leader Obakeng Ramabodu said: “The decision of ActionSA and the DA is a violation of the councillors’ constitutional rights to fulfil their responsibilities effectively in the municipal council.
“Schedule 3 of the Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998 under section 6(a) gives councillors powers to elect office bearers through a secret ballot if more than one candidate accepts a nomination. The lie-detector tests against councillors doing their work is not just morally inappropriate, but also inhumane and insensitive for the DA and ActionSA to do.”
He slammed such a decision, saying it was a deplorable and dangerous action to decimate and incapacitate the Tshwane council going forward.
“The secret ballot, as legally permissible, is premised on the consciousness of respective councillors and their gravitation to persuasion, which should never be manipulated by a machine to achieve political ends.
“The DA’s and ActionSA’s dangerous stunts must be curtailed before they put all members of the municipal council at risk,” Ramabodu said.
He called on the parties to desist from this “ludicrous move” to preserve the culture and climate of political independence in the municipal council.
In a media statement, ActionSA said it had initiated a process to identify any councillors within its ranks in Tshwane who may have departed from the caucus decision to support Cilliers Brink’s candidature for mayor.
“It is believed that eight councillors from within the multiparty coalition supported Cope’s candidate, Murunwa Makwarela, ultimately causing his election to the position of mayor. It is unknown from which parties these eight councillors arise,” the party said.
The decision to go after implicated councillors followed Wednesday night’s meeting of the coalition partners.
“The meeting was positive, and all councillors expressed a desire for measures to identify who may have voted against the caucus decision,” said ActionSA.
The party further said: “It is deeply concerning that allegations have already begun to surface that the actions of these eight councillors were informed by inducements, including both money and positions of higher remuneration. In our book, if such an allegation is found to be true, the crime of bribery will have been committed.”
Brink, who is new DA caucus leader, said: “The DA and our coalition partners will take urgent steps to identify the seven traitors, and to remove them. This will restore the multiparty coalition’s majority in Tshwane.”
Brink said the DA would keep fighting for the people of Tshwane, and for effective, clean and corruption-free government.
“We always knew that coalitions would be difficult, and that unaccountable parties can be manipulated to help bring the ANC back to power.
“But we will not give up on coalitions where the DA and our partners have a majority, and this includes Tshwane,” he said.
Pretoria News