By Cllr Ofentse Madzebatela
DA Tshwane Caucus Chief Whip
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Tshwane has resolved that it will bring a Motion of No Confidence (MoNC) against Speaker of Council Cllr Mncedi Ndzwanana, during the Council Meeting of 26 June 2025.
Since 2023, Tshwane’s Council Chamber, which is meant to serve as a beacon of democracy, has been subjected to the tyranny of a Speaker of Council, who runs it like a dictator, who views Councillors as his subjects.
He makes his rulings based on emotion, and neither logic nor the rules of Council.
Due to this attitude, Councillors cannot participate in meetings as equal peers.
His discriminatory behaviour has reached a point where parties outside of the governing coalition do not have a fair say or hearing for that matter, in Council meetings.
The speaker has developed a disposition to dismiss all propositions of the DA Caucus, as legally and rationally sound as they may be, these include:
•Points of order;
•Requests for deliberation on reports and amendments to reports;
•Recommendations; and
•Motions brought before Council especially when they do not favour his coalition partners.
At the Council meeting of 29 May 2025, the DA Caucus expressed its dissent with a report tabled to the Council on the establishment of the Economic Growth Advisory Committee, to which it argued, was replicating the work of many other committees already in existence.
We requested for a vote on the report, in terms of Section 39 of the Rules and Orders By-Laws (2012).
The Speaker denied the DA Caucus the opportunity to exercise its right to vote.
Endorsing this report was not only unethical, but an additional cost burden for the city.
Furthermore, at the Council meeting of 24 April 2025, the Speaker denied the DA the opportunity to debate motions brought before Council, even with it having fulfilled all the requirements as per the Rules and Orders By-Laws of Council.
Subsequent to that, in the very same Council meeting, the Speaker acceded to having ruled incorrectly with regards to the debating of the motions.
He is both indecisive and impulsive.
The Speaker has been at the helm of a new administration that brought oversight to a complete halt towards the end of 2024.
For a period of almost four (4) months, committee meetings of Council failed to take place, either being postponed or cancelled.
It was only after the DA’s public outcry in this regard, that some sort of stability prevailed and committee meetings were resuscitated in February 2025.
How are democratically elected public representatives expected to represent their constituencies, when their voices are being stifled?
This is not symbolic of representative democracy; it is tantamount to censorship.
We will remove the Speaker, and restore democracy to Tshwane’s Council chamber.