By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
A special meeting of the Tshwane metro council scheduled for today has been cancelled, hours before it was due to start, amid confusion about the recent resignation of Democratic Alliance (DA) mayor Randall Williams.
On Monday Williams handed in his resignation, in the wake of an adverse opinion issued by Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke on Tshwane’s financial statements for 2022/23.
Maluleke expressed doubt about the metro’s ability to continue as a going concern and said the statements are not a fair reflection of the financial affairs of the metro.
In his resignation letter, Williams initially said he would step down effective from midnight on that day.
However, the outgoing mayor later made a U-turn and tendered an amended resignation letter in which he said he would only vacate office on 28 February.
Williams said he was remaining in office in order to “ensure that the core work of the City is not interrupted and that the mayoral committee remains in place”.
Tshwane council speaker Murunwa Makwarela confirmed the sitting to deliberate on Williams’ two conflicting resignation letters was cancelled due to legal advice his office sought.
“I had to seek legal advice as to exactly which letter I have to take into cognisance because both letters have legal implications,” said Makwarela.
He said the mayoral committee of the multiparty coalition government led by the Democratic Alliance remained in place.
The speaker complained that Williams’ resignation was not properly handled.
He said the metro was “caught between a rock and hard place” because Williams was currently on special leave until 28 February, while the MMC for finance and leader of executive business, Alderman Peter Sutton, was currently the acting mayor.
At the same time, Makwarela said the mayoral committee was tasked by council with making changes to the metro’s annual report, which was submitted during an ordinary sitting on 26 January.
He said the report was approved for a public participation process for 60 days, but council later learned that the report was a draft document.
Makwarela said the mayoral committee was expected to correct the annual report and resubmit it to council in order for the public participation process to commence.
“That is the conundrum that we find ourselves in. The leader of executive business [Sutton] wrote to me on Monday, asking me to postpone Wednesday’s council meeting so that the mayoral committee can sit and processes the new amended annual report by the chairperson of the audit performance committee,” said Makwarela.
The true reason for the cancellation of the special council meeting on Wednesday may be to prevent a situation where councillors insist on an immediate mayoral election and to give parties more time to get their ducks in a row.
The coalition currently has barely 50% of the council seats, which makes it vulnerable to being booted out if opposition parties work together and can gather a few more votes from among the councillors representing the coalition parties.
Beyond the election of a new mayor and the scheduled monthly council meeting, another special council meeting is expected early in March to deal with three motions from minority parties, presumably with the support of the ANC and EFF.
These motions include two of no confidence in the chief whip Christo van den Heever and the chairpersons of the 79 oversight committees and one to institute disciplinary action against city manager Johann Mettler.
Meanwhile the African National Congress (ANC) in eThekwini Region has appointed the National Freedom Party’s (NFP) Zandile Myeni and Economic Freedom Fighters’ Thabani Miya in key portfolio positions in the City Council.
The ANC said it has agreed on the reconfiguration of the municipal committees in order to sharpen and strengthen its service delivery machinery.
Thembo Ntuli from the ANC was appointed as the new Political Head and Chairperson of the Economic Development, Planning and Trading Services Committee.
The Whip of the Council position will be filled by Snenhlanhla Sishange, also from the ANC.
Sishange was elected at the last Special Council meeting along with the new deputy mayor, Zandile Myeni.
The fourth appointment was of Political Head and Chairperson of the Human Settlements and Infrastructure Committee, Thabani Miya, from the EFF.