Maile resents inability to grab power in Tshwane
20 January 2020
The latest round in the Tshwane saga exposes MEC Lebogang Maile for what he essentially is, a bully. Over the past few weeks, he has sent letters and made media statements regarding the Tshwane Speaker, not necessarily in that order. But his huffing and puffing will not blow the Tshwane house down.
Maile has variously: attempted to put Tshwane under administration but has misapplied section 139 of the Constitution, attempted a coup d’etat by sending officials to hijack control over Tshwane Council meetings, and has accused Speaker, Katlego Mathebe of misconduct over her recusing herself when an item came up that involved her own position and over her insisting on her authority in terms of standing rules and law.
But Speaker Mathebe has more than adequately responded. However, Maile refuses to understand that his role is to oversee and not control. Instead, he wants to act on the challenges of the legacy of problems inherited by the DA-led Council citing some extreme form of failure. In so doing he completely disregards the facts that plans exist, independent bodies such as National Treasury have given the Council the thumbs-up and that there are ANC-led Councils in his province that have massive problem.
Indeed, the record shows that Speaker Mathebe has acted very correctly in terms of: