In a video captured during a heated moment by the Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor, Anne’ van Onselen, councillors can be heard hurling insults at each other and threatening violence. ANC councillors allegedly stood up and disrupted the council sitting after a few incidents of interrupting opposition parties’ speeches. DA Ward 2 candidate, Chris Hattingh, says the aggression, lack of decorum and order displayed by ANC councillors during a meeting is a clear sign of the deep-rooted factionalism playing out at the cost of service delivery in that municipality. Hattingh says the only item on the meeting agenda was an item requested by the DA in which the DA disputes the authorisation allegedly given by the municipal Council to approach the High Court in an urgent application. The Municipality is yet to comment.

Hattingh says this is about an order to stay the implementation of Section 139(1) (b) Constitutional intervention into the municipality including the subsequent appointment of an administrator, pending the review application. “The special council meeting was disrupted and brought to an end by ANC councillors without formally adopting any resolution. The DA is of the opinion that this urgent High Court application, which is desperately pursued by the ANC and some ANC aligned councillors, is bound to fail with substantial costs to taxpayers,” says Hattingh.

Meanwhile, OFM News previously reported that a special council meeting in Matlosana, which include Klerksdorp, was disrupted three times within two months by irate residents who were allegedly on the payroll of the municipal manager, Theetsi Nkhumise, according to a source. Nkhumise has been linked to the financial irregularities by the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) and the Auditor-General (AG), Kimi Makwetu.

OFM News