Durban — The DA in eThekwini has accused eThekwini Municipality speaker Thabani Nyawose of trying to block a motion it filed to dissolve the council and hold fresh elections because the ANC feared its councillors working with the newly established Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party would support the motion.
DA provincial chairperson Dean Macpherson and eThekwini Municipality caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa said on Monday that they had received information that Nyawose was backtracking from his written commitment that the motion would be tabled for debate and voting on in the first council meeting on Wednesday.
Macpherson said the party suspected that Nyawose had been given instructions by his political bosses not to allow the motion to go ahead.
Last week, the ANC announced it will take disciplinary action against three of its councillors who have been working for the MK Party.
Towards the end of last year, the DA filed a motion saying people should give a new mandate to the new council since everything has collapsed under the ANC/EFF coalition.
“The ANC caucus is no longer intact, therefore the speaker is trying to frustrate our motion to protect his party from losing power. We also heard the EFF has not guaranteed them its vote,” said Macpherson.
He warned that should Nyawose not table the motion, the DA will not hesitate to go to court; and the party will seek punitive costs against Nyawose personally. The DA hoped its motion would be successful since the majority of small parties were now on its side. The DA said it had engaged with civil society as well and had support for the move to give eThekwini residents an opportunity to rescue their city.
The DA said it was prepared to talk to all the parties, except the EFF, saying it would be hypocritical and political opportunism of the worst order to ask the very same people behind the destruction of the city to be part of the solution.
Nyawose dismissed the DA’s allegations that he was blocking the motion. Nyawose said on Monday that there will be no DA motion on Wednesday. The motion failed to comply with the rules since it did not have a seconder and therefore did not meet the requirements, he said.
“I am surprised that the DA accused me of delaying their motions. On Friday I called the parties’ whips to brief them on motions which the DA whip attended and all parties agreed the DA motion did not comply; which the DA never disputed. On top of that I had one-on-one meeting with the DA whip to explain why their motion would not be tabled and she agreed,” said Nyawose.
However, the DA said it would not accept or tolerate the bullying tactics of Nyawose to delay this motion and would use every available resource and avenue to ensure the democratic rights of eThekwini residents are upheld.
Nyawose also dismissed the DA’s allegations that it was fearing that ANC councillors would support the motion because they were working with the MK Party, saying if that was the case the ANC would also not allow an IFP motion to remove mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, which he said was the one on the agenda for Wednesday.
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