The DA walked out of ZF Mgcawu District Municipality’s Special Council Meeting on Friday, after the Speaker, Stanley Pietersen, unlawfully decided to scrap a Motion of No Confidence (MONC) we had tabled against the Executive Mayor, when it became clear the motion would succeed.
As the motion proceeded it became clear that the ANC, with the Khoisan Revolution, would have only eleven votes against the motion, out of twenty-three councillors in attendance, and were not guaranteed enough votes to oppose the MONC. It became clear that the ANC mayor was going to be voted out.
The Speaker’s actions are highly irregular, as he had initially seen fit to approve the placement of the MONC on the council agenda.
The MONC was initiated by the DA, to hold Executive Mayor, Maureen Basson, accountable for protecting the appointment of the acting Municipal Manager, Alfred Tieties despite a directive from the MEC of CoGHSTA, declaring the appointment of Alfred Tieties unlawful.
Basson withheld the directive from the MEC from council for seven months, hiding the truth, and continuing and deepening the irregular and wasteful funding of Tieties remuneration.
After the walkout of the opposition, the meeting attempted to establish a disciplinary committee to take strong action against the opposition. The meeting, however, no longer had a quorum, making this illegal.
We will ask the MEC of COGHSTA, Bentley Vass, and SALGA to investigate and intervene.
The DA will continue to fight to protect the integrity of ZFM district municipality and to uphold the rule of law.