Africa-Press – South-Africa. City of Tshwane speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana will face a court case brought by the DA and its coalition partners, despite acceding to a special sitting to hear a motion of no confidence in him.
Ndzwanana had clashed with the DA, ActionSA, ACDP and IFP for his refusal to call a special sitting to hear the motion.
It was brought forward a few weeks ago and prompted Tshwane city manager Johann Mettler to arrange a date for the special sitting.
When it began, Ndzwanana insisted on chairing it.
The sitting was later adjourned after he declared it “illegal”.
This decision left the DA and its coalition partners fuming and threatening legal action.
They want Ndzwanana to be interdicted from chairing the meeting which was called to discuss his fate.
The DA, FF Plus and ActionSA said they believed he would not be fair and just in chairing a sitting which questioned his authority.
The court case, to be argued in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on 11 April, had initially sought to force Ndzwanana to call for the sitting on 12 and 13 April.
He acceded to this request on Wednesday and sent a notice for the sitting on 12 April.
But despite this move, the DA and its coalition partners are determined to argue in court on 11 April that Ndzwanana should be legally interdicted from chairing the sitting and Mettler should take over.
The coalition also wants Ndzwanana, the ANC, EFF and its minority party supporters interdicted from inciting violence or disrupting the sitting.
EFF Tshwane leader Obakeng Ramabodu threatened the DA and its partners if they attempted to remove Ndzwanana shortly after Cilliers Brink’s election as mayor.
This was the basis for the coalition partners asking for opposition parties to be held in contempt if they disrupted council proceedings.
The parties also want the interdict to protect the council on 13 April, the date set for passing the City’s adjustment budget.
In court papers seen by News24, the coalition partners argued:
They also asked the court to hold Ndzwanana personally liable for costs if he tried to challenge it.
Brink submitted an answering affidavit with the application and said the EFF’s threats against the DA about a “no-go area on Ndzwanana” were serious and warranted an interdict.
“The historical behaviour of the EFF in the Tshwane council demonstrates that the threats by Mr Ramabodu pose a serious risk to the rights of the implicated in the matter,” Brink said in his affidavit.
Ndzwanana is an African Transformation Movement councillor.
He was elected due to support from the ANC, EFF, and a group of smaller opposition parties.
The DA and its coalition partners see Ndzwanana’s removal as speaker as crucial for the stability of the political arrangement in Tshwane.
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