By Ald Cilliers Brink
DA Tshwane Caucus Leader
The ANC/EFF/ActionSA coalition in Tshwane today blocked a DA motion of no confidence against the city’s vote-rigging Speaker, Mncedi Ndzwanana.
In July, he tampered with the results of a council vote to have City Manager Johann Mettler suspended.
His legal team has not disputed the vote-rigging in court.
We believe that the vote-rigging was a concerted attempt by the coalition of corruption in Tshwane to remove Mettler, because he is an obstacle to the awarding of irregular tenders.
Reading from a script prepared by the Speaker’s office, the ANC councillor presiding over the matter disallowed the motion of no confidence on the basis that it was ‘sub judice’ (pending before the court).
There is no such motion before the court, and to the extent that the vote-rigging matter is still to be considered, the court proceedings do not relate to Ndzwanana’s ability to hold the position of Speaker.
It was clear from what happened in the meeting today that the vote-rigging Speaker enjoys the support of all his coalition partners, including ActionSA.
As the DA has said from the outset: Nasiphi Moya, the ActionSA mayor, drove the process to get Mettler suspended.
It was only when the matter embarrassed her party that their Michael Beaumont instructed her to oppose Mettler’s suspension.
Today’s blocking of the DA’s motion proves that ActionSA is quite comfortable with the Speaker’s conduct, despite Beaumont’s protestations to the contrary, and that politically ActionSA is in the same WhatsApp group as the ANC and the EFF.
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