Cape Town - Tony Ehrenreich, as leader of the opposition in the City of Cape Town, has called on mayor Patricia de Lille to convene an urgent meeting to deal with the “crisis of governance” in the metro.
“We are taking this unusual step in requesting and convening this meeting through the council structures given the mayor’s inability to lead the city out of this crisis.”
He said if De Lille did not heed the call to show better leadership, and to consider all points of view on council matters, disgruntled parties would have to air their grievances elsewhere.
“This will lead to an increase in protest action, which we of course want to avoid at all costs.”
But De Lille showed no signs of humouring Ehrenreich’s request on Tuesday. Mayoral spokeswoman Zara Nicholson said: “While we are open to advice, this does not extend to the ANC because they have a culture of disrupting city council meetings.”
Ehrenreich’s appeal comes in the wake of disruptions at all levels of the government, including the fracas that erupted in the National Assembly during the State of the Nation address.
The City of Cape Town’s first council meeting of the year was adjourned last month when ANC councillors refused an order from the Speaker to leave the chamber. The meeting was adjourned by Speaker Dirk Smit, and reconvened at a new venue without the ANC. When ANC councillors tried to attend, they were barred from the meeting by a barricade of metro police. A scuffle broke out when the ANC councillors tried to enter the room, and metro police were reportedly spat at, assaulted and intimidated. ANC councillors were also reportedly injured.
As chaos reigned in the concourse of the Civic Centre, the DA councillors who had made it into the new venue passed the city’s adjustment’s budget and other important items without any input from opposition councillors.
Premier Helen Zille was forced to suspend her State of the Province Address on Friday after disruptions from the ANC. In Gauteng, the EFF tried to do the same to Premier David Makhura during his address.
“The recent developments in the council and in the different institutions of governance at a provincial and national level (have) brought governance into disrepute in the eyes of our people. These events undermine the standing of governance and make our people lose hope in the institutions of governance,” said Ehrenreich.
But Nicholson said it was the ANC that disrupted meetings with the “ungovernability campaign”.
She added: “By wearing his two caps, Tony Ehrenreich does not have control of the ANC caucus who are responsible for the disruptions. It is clear that after nearly four years in local government, he hasn’t read the council rules. Only the Speaker of council is responsible for the management of council, not the mayor.”
Ehrenreich said: “It is less important who is right or who is wrong and more important that we find a lasting solution that restores the integrity of the council and speeds up service delivery.”
If De Lille ignored the call, it would validate the ANC’s concern that things in the city would go “from bad to worse”.
Cape Argus