Africa-Press – South-Africa. The DA mayor of the Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality, Ewald Loock, and the party’s chief whip in the council, Ricardo Smith, have been removed from their positions via a motion of no confidence.
This comes 14 days after the duo survived an initial motion of no confidence thanks to a walkout by various parties on 4 May.
But the two were not that lucky last Wednesday after the ANC’s bid to oust them succeeded.
This was the ANC’s second attempt to oust Loock and Smith from their positions after the initial meeting, it called to table the motion on 4 May, collapsed following a walkout by councillors from the DA, FF Plus and EFF.
Walkout saves DA mayor and chief whip from motion of no confidence
The council is now without a mayor or a chief whip because the DA refuses to vote for Loock and Smith’s replacements.
The council does not meet the quorum to vote without the DA.
The municipality, which is seated in the fourth-oldest town in South Africa, Graaff-Reinet, is a hung council, with the DA occupying 10 seats.
Seats
The FF Plus and EFF have one each. The ANC has 11 seats and the Compatriots of South Africa (CSA) has one.
Council speaker Cheslin Felix from the CSA decided Loock and Smith’s fates last Wednesday, using his vote to oust them.
The CSA and ANC are in a coalition.
DA MP and the party’s constituency leader in the municipality, Samantha Graham-Maré, said the party would not vote until it was certain the mayor’s removal complied with Section 53 or 57 of the Municipal Structures Act.
At the meeting which removed Loock and Smith, she added the DA had asked the municipal manager Dr Edward Rankwana about the legality of the move but he was unable to confirm it.
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Graham-Maré said the party was questioning the legality of the mayor’s removal because the municipality was a collective executive system of local government, which operated slightly differently from the mayoral executive system.
At last week’s council meeting, according her, Rankwana said the council meeting would be adjourned to allow for a legal opinion on the matter.
Graham-Maré said Rankwana had still not been able to answer the question surrounding the legality of the move.
She claimed the DA caucus was ready to proceed with the election to replace Loock and Smith but awaited the legal opinion.
Graham-Maré added: “On Thursday 19 May, the DA caucus submitted a letter to the municipal manager, Dr Edward Rankwana, requesting that the legal opinion being sought be provided to the DA at least 48 hours prior to the next meeting so that it could be properly interrogated. There was no response.”
The DA has boycotted the council until it is furnished with the legal opinion from the municipal manager.
The party said the council speaker called a council meeting and attempted to vote without the DA but it did not meet the quorum.
Graham-Maré added:
She added while it was not the intention of the DA to thwart the proper functioning of the council, the party could not support the persistent non-adherence to the rules and legal prescripts of local government.
“The DA will not attend a meeting to elect a new mayor until we have absolute clarity on the legality of the actions being taken,” said Graham-Maré.
Leaders of the ANC/CSA coalition said the DA must take responsibility for what was happening in the municipality.
ANC Sarah Baartman regional secretary Johannes Hobbs said the ANC was confident Rankwana and Felix would follow the laws governing local government.
“The DA must stop blaming others for their own mess and start to take responsibility for their actions. All what the ANC wants is for council to convene a properly constituted meeting so that we can proceed with the business of council because our people needs services and the continued running away from meetings by the DA is not assisting.
“They have brought this upon themselves,” added Hobbs.
Rankwana could not immediately respond to questions from News24. His response will be added once received.
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