According to some opposition parties in council, members of the ruling party - which account for the majority of members - had a go at each other. The speaker of the council, Mxolisi Siyonzana, suggested postponing the sitting. His call to postpone the sitting was rejected by a group of ANC members - who even went as far as insulting the speaker - while others seconded his suggestion.

Siyonzana ultimately used his discretion as the speaker of the council to postpone the sitting, ignoring calls from opposition parties and some ANC members not to postpone the sitting. Siyonzana is on Friday expected to call another sitting.

The sitting comes after residents of Mangaung called for the dissolution of the council. Leaders of the Mangaung protests, which brought parts of Bloemfontein to a standstill, argue that this council failed to properly do its oversight work by allowing corruption to thrive under its watch.

Meanwhile, MEC for Cooperative Governance (Cogta), Thembeni Ngxangisa, threatened to take this council to court if they fail to suspend the under-fire Mea.

It now remains to be seen if Ngxangisa will stand true to his words and head to court to hold the council to account for its action.

The ANC has on previous occasions rejected opposition parties' motions to have Mea fired. Following a string of allegations of misconduct and maladministration against Mea, the ANC said it couldn't suspend Mea because it did not want to put its cart before the horse.

OFM News