By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
A new mayor in the City of Tshwane could not be elected after the Democratic Alliance (DA) and its coalition partners walked out a council meeting.
This walkout meant the City of Tshwane remains without a mayor following the resignation of Cope’s Murunwa Makwarela last week.
The multi-party coalition left council after speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana refused to remove two former ActionSA councillors from proceedings following their expulsion on Friday.
PR councillors Mandla Mhlana and Mpho Baloyi have both been accused of not toeing the party line by voting for Makwarela.
Coalition spokesperson Cornè Mulder says if voting was allowed to continue, then it would’ve had a “material impact” on the outcome.
“It is suspected that allowing these councillors to vote was an essential component in the plan of the ANC and EFF to have their candidate elected today to the position of mayor of Tshwane and to coordinate this along with the ANC’s march to the council chamber- an act consistent with the intimidation we have seen in previous council meetings.
“The multi-party coalition provided every opportunity for the speaker to correct this matter. This included proposing that the meeting be adjourned until next week until such time as a competent legal opinion has been obtained in order to avoid litigation over today’s council meeting.
“Bizarrely, the speaker accepted the proposal to obtain a legal opinion and adjourned the meeting only to reverse his decision and return at 7pm without a legal opinion. At this point the multi-party coalition resolved to walkout of the council meeting.”
Council had to be suspended after members of the multi-party coalition did not return to council meaning that quorum could not be reached.
The city still needs to elect a new mayor in order to pass the adjustment budget.
The metropolitan municipality has been given until 31 March by the National Treasury to pass the budget to avoid being placed under administration.