Joburg ANC Councillors a no-show at critical council meeting

14 March 2019

As the City of Johannesburg’s Council sits for the first of a two-day council meeting, considering the City’s Annual Report by the Auditor General as well as the 2019/20 budget, I am shocked, yet not quite surprised, that all ANC councillors clearly felt that they had better things to do.

ANC Councillors were not in attendance, all of them claiming private commitments. Pictures have emerged on social media which show these Councillors campaigning with President Cyril Ramaphosa in Soweto.

Because of this, residents in the wards these Councillors were elected to represent, are in fact not being represented at all.

This is unfortunately to be expected by a party that has failed this City allowing massive infrastructure and housing backlogs to develop over years, and a state of lawlessness across our City. This same ANC were at the helm when institutionalized corruption was allowed to prosper in Johannesburg, resulting now in 4000 cases under investigation totaling more than R24 billion.

Last year, I reported the ANC Caucus to the Ethics Committee of the City of Johannesburg for a pattern of disrupting Council Meetings or walking out to deliberately collapse quorum.

It appears that the ANC places more value on campaigning than serving the residents they are elected to represent. Fortunately, because of the change demanded by the residents in 2016, Council continued in their absence. 

Our multiparty government will not allow this to affect the hard work done and progress made by the City.

I would like to thank the members of the multi-party coalition, the DA, IFP, ACDP, VF+ and COPE, as well as the EFF and the AIC for their presence in Council and their commitment to the residents of Johannesburg. Due to the commitment of these Councillors, the business of the City was concluded successfully today, in the best interests of our residents.

We will continue deliver real change to communities that have been left behind.

Issued by Luyanda Mfeka, Director: Mayoral Communications, Office of the Executive Mayor, 14 March 2019