SHELLEY LOE:

ANC TRAMPLES ON LAW AND EQUAL RIGHTS IN QUEST FOR DA WARD

The leader of the Democratic Alliance in Ekurhuleni, Shelley Loe, was thrown out of the Council chamber today for heckling the ANC in a debate around a DA councillor being forced to resign.  She was followed by the 62-strong DA caucus who left the chamber with her.

Loe said in a statement that in its determination to take a Council ward from the DA, the ANC in Ekurhuleni - in cahoots with the politicians who run the Department of Education and with the blind co-operation of Metro officials and hands-off approach of the IEC - has run roughshod over the rule of law and the rights of individuals to equal treatment.

In the Metro Council meeting, Loe said the ANC, from provincial level downwards, has given in to internal political pressure, by targeting a DA councillor and coercing him to resign in order to create a vacancy in Ward 88 in Nigel, part of the Ekurhuleni Metro area. In his response, Acting Mayor, Clr Moses Makwawa, conceded that the ANC was playing politics around this council seat.

Loe said Clr Jake Ceronio had been deliberately ambushed in the ANC's determination to take power wherever it believes it can get it, on the contention that he could not be a school principal and a part-time city councillor at the same time.

"Like a spoilt child, the ANC saw what it wanted and went all out to get it, without regard for anyone else, let alone the law and the principle of non-discrimination", said Loe.  "In essence, an enormously popular councillor of 12 years standing has been forced to resign from Council, having been openly threatened by the Department of Education that he would be fired as an employee if he continued to do both jobs."

Loe said there are hundreds of teachers throughout the country who are councillors too, many of whom are ANC members.  "If they are resigning now as teachers, it is only due to the DA raising the matter around Ceronio, not because the Department was correct in demanding such resignations."

She said the only written evidence she had seen which referred to the issue was what appeared to be a policy document of the national Department of Education which clearly disallowed full-time councillors from holding down jobs as teachers.  Ceronio is a part-time councillor. 

There is also an open-ended clause that requires teachers wanting to stand for election to Councils to request permission.  "Even if this requirement does apply to Ceronio, he was not aware it existed.  Without a doubt, his superiors in the Department knew he was re-elected in May and didn't raise it as a problem over the past four months."

Ceronio wrote to his district manager in the Department of Education, enquiring as to whether the status quo still existed in respect of teachers being councillors.  He has proof that his letter was received, but he got no answer.

"Suddenly, out of the blue, the MEC for Education in Gauteng, Barbara Creecy, attacked Clr Ceronio for holding down both positions, in a debate in the Legislature about three weeks ago," said Loe.  "The very next day, Ceronio was challenged by his district manager and asked what decision he had come to in respect of resigning from either of his positions."

Ceronio is principal of Benoni High School , which last year won the award for the best Model C school in D6 and is rated as one of the top schools in the country under Ceronio's leadership.  The school has never had a failure in matric while he has been principal and is one of three schools in South Africa (the only Government school) rated as an Educational Centre of Excellence in Global Education and Skills Oxbridge Guide.

"He was openly threatened with expulsion from the Department if he did not make a choice, which he was told could lead to him losing his hard-earned pension," said Loe.  "The Department claims it sent Ceronio a letter to this effect, but only after the election.  Ceronio did not ever receive such notification, as he would most certainly have acted upon it, a fact made certain by his attempts to get clarity on the situation before the election, to no avail."

Bizarrely, the Department also claims it sent out this letter via the Blackberry messaging service.  Ceronio, whose state-provided Blackberry was in for repair at the time, could not have received such a message, if indeed this was true.  "It is a very sorry state of affairs if serious and official memorandums are sent out by government departments via smses and speaks volumes about the lack of professionalism and proper systems," said Loe.  Other schools contacted also did not receive this memo.  "The Department cannot expect to be taken seriously if this is the way things are done. The fact that it is willing to violate its own policy and the Public Service Act in order to make a political point is a worrying trend and shows contempt for the rule of law."

She said despite all attempts by the DA to ensure that Ceronio's rights were protected and his resignation was not accepted while matters were discussed, the Speaker and City Manager instructed the IEC that a vacancy existed and that a by-election should be declared.  "This was done in an amazingly efficient manner, the by-election having already been called for 9 November.

Ironically, Loe added, the declaring and filling of a vacant DA proportional seat, which the ANC cannot take from the DA, usually takes a month or more before action is taken.

She said the ANC's determination to take this seat would be in vain.  "The DA will retain this seat and we will ensure that justice is done, no matter how long it takes, in respect of the treatment dished out to our councillor, a man who least deserves such appalling treatment.  He has been a sterling councillor, evident from the ease with which he is re-elected time and again and an equally valuable educator, whose worth the state has itself recognised by regularly giving the school, under his leadership, Awards for being the top school in the District and one of the top schools in the province and South Africa .

Loe said Ceronio ploughs a large percentage of his Council allowance back into the community he serves, every month.  "Through feeding schemes and other causes, this is a man who puts his money where his mouth is.  Yet this is a man whom the ANC carelessly eliminates ruthlessly, just because it thinks it can.  In fact, it can't.  The DA will ensure the ANC realises that."

Loe reported that she had brought up the matter directly with the Mayor, Clr Mondli Gungubelu, over a week ago.  "I put it to him that Clr Ceronio had been ambushed and that he, as Mayor of the whole of Ekurhuleni, not just the ANC, and as the Mayor of all councillors, not just the ruling party, should ensure this would not be allowed to happen.

"Disappointingly, the Mayor failed to stand up to his fellow party members and do the right thing." 

Statement issued by Clr. Shelley Loe, Leader of the Opposition Democratic Alliance, Ekurhuleni Metro, September 29 2011

ASHOR SARUPEN:

RELEASE: CLR. SHELLEY LOE, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION, EKURHULENI METRO

DA BELIEVES EKURHULENI SPEAKER IS BIASED

The DA walked out of the Ekurhuleni Council Meeting today in protest at the speakers removing the DA's Caucus Leader, Shelley Loe, from the meeting for defending a DA councillor that had been forced to resign as a result of an apparent political witch hunt by the ANC. The acting Mayor, Clr Moses Makwawa, admitted as much in his response to Loe's speech, when he said it was for 'political reasons'.

The walkout follows multiple rulings from the speaker, ANC Clr Patricia Khumalo, today that were against the rules of council. The speaker had earlier refused to accept the amendment to the Integrated Development Programme for Ward 72 in Springs, Ekurhuleni, which officials of council had incorrectly captured, and council then approved the item despite the fact that it did not contain what the community had asked for - flying in the face of the public participation. The speaker refused to recognise DA Chief Whip Ashor Sarupen's attempt to put the amendment to the vote. The speaker also refused to acknowledge Sarupen when he attempted to ask that her ruling be officially recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

The DA later attempted to table amendments to the council item on ward committees, which did not have a timetable and was inconclusive. The DA wanted ward committees to be approved in a time-line that would lead up to ward committee elections being completed by January 2012. However, the ANC refused to accept the full amendments and left it open ended for all administrative processes to be completed by December 2011. Ward committees are a key link between the ward councillor and the community. However, the ANC is seemingly happy to avoid achieving meaningful public participation by insisting that the tabled item be accepted without any further amendments.

The DA is most disturbed by the fact that the ANC and speaker apparently see's any attempts to amend or vote against council items by the opposition as disrespectful, and not as a party representing their voters as should be the case in an open and democratic society.

Statement issued by Clr. Ashor Sarupen, DA Chief Whip in Ekurhuleni Municipality, September 29 2011

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