Tshwane needs a stable city government after fall of ANC-EFF puppet mayor

7 March 2023

The DA in Tshwane welcomes the decision of the city manager of the City of Tshwane, Johann Mettler, to declare a vacancy for the seat held by the sole councillor for COPE, Dr Murunwa Makwarela.

This follows Cllr Makwarela’s failure to produce evidence that he is not an unrehabilitated insolvent, and so ineligible to hold office as a councillor in terms of section 158(1) of the Constitution.

Last week, shortly after Cllr Makwarela’s election as the ANC-EFF candidate for mayor of Tshwane, a member of the public informed the Multi-Party Coalition that Cllr Makwarela had been sequestrated by the Gauteng High Court in August 2016.

We were unable to find evidence of a rehabilitation order in the matter, and so we wrote to the city manager and the IEC to ask that Cllr Makwarela be requested to produce evidence of his rehabilitation.

It is now clear that Cllr Makwarela cannot produce such evidence, which means he misled the public when he accepted his nomination as councillor of the City of Tshwane on 1 November 2021.

By failing to disclose his insolvency status, he further misled the public by accepting nomination as speaker of the council and later as mayor of the ANC-EFF coalition in Tshwane. He must be held to full account for his actions.

What is important now is that the City of Tshwane hold an election for a new executive mayor as soon as possible, and preferably next week, and for parties in the council to place the City’s stability above self-interested political games and schemes.

A stable city government with a clear mandate and a plan is not only in the best interest of the multi-party coalition government. It is also in the best interest of ANC ward councillors who need to help residents with service delivery issues.

The failure of the Makwarela mayoralty is yet another failed intervention by the ANC’s provincial leadership in Gauteng in the affairs of the Capital City, and one for which Premier Phanzaya Lesufi must accept personal responsibility.

Mr Lesufi, more eager to act as provincial chairperson of the ANC than premier of the province, was instrumental in persuading ANC and EFF councillors to back Makwarela’s candidacy. He also facilitated the negotiations that led to the election of Johannesburg’s ANC-EFF puppet mayor, Thapelo Ahmed.

Mr Lesufi must plot his next moves very carefully. Instead of launching another ill-considered misadventure in the affairs of the Capital City, he would do well to rather focus on supporting the City to fulfil its constitutional mandate to its residents.

Issued by Jacqui Uys, DA Tshwane Ward Councillor, 7 March 2023