Durban — The African Democratic Change (ADeC) campaign to remove eThekwini municipality speaker Thabani Nyawose has been dealt a blow following the rejection by one of the major opposition parties, the IFP.
ADeC leader Visvin Reddy who is also a councillor had appealed to opposition parties in the municipality including the EFF to rally behind his campaign to dislodge the ANC from power by supporting his motion to remove speaker Nyawose.
Speaking to the Daily News after holding its caucus, the IFP rejected Reddy’s motion saying the party would abstain during voting.
Explaining the reason for the rejection, IFP councillor Jonathan Annipen said the party did not support the motion because it was not privy to the reasons given by Reddy for the motion.
He added that the party has not seen a case or an affidavit against the city manager Musa Mbhele. Annipen, however, said the IFP was not happy with how the speaker conducts himself and if Reddy’s motion was talking to that the IFP was not going to hesitate in supporting it.
Reddy said that he was not deterred by the IFP’s rejection, saying he expected that parties would not support it as they always found excuses when they had to show they were anti-ANC .
“I will table my motion even if I will alone vote for it. I want the ratepayers to see that the opposition parties are selling them out. This was a golden opportunity to show that they were committed to change but they are hiding with a small technicality,” said Reddy.
Reddy had called on all the opposition parties to rally behind his campaign, saying it was the beginning of the removal of the ANC in the city. He filed his motion last month accusing the speaker of misleading the council when he said there was no case against Mbhele.
Reddy said any party which would not support him yet claim to be anti-ANC and anti-corruption would have sold out voters who entrusted them in the 2021 local elections.
He said he had been forced to table a motion of no confidence in the speaker after his handling of a report implicating the City manager.
“In spite of my specific request that the City manager (Musa Mbhele) recuse himself and be suspended pending an internal investigation, the speaker assured us that the City manager was not implicated in any way.
“It later emerged that the speaker had misled the council and that the City manager was indeed directly implicated in the report. This is a serious offence, and the speaker’s actions have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the good governance of our municipality,” said Reddy.
He said the opposition should stop being hypocrites because when campaigning for votes they accused the ANC of corruption and now that there was an opportunity to remove the ANC, they do not support it.
Reddy said the speaker lacked experience as a councillor, having been deployed as a municipal official in the housing department before becoming speaker.
“As the speaker, he has consistently demonstrated a limited knowledge of the Municipal Systems and Structures Act, as well as the rules of council, and has silenced councillors on several occasions when they made valid points.”
He added that the motion would also expose the “sell-outs” in s opposition ranks especially those who pretended to join the growing anti-ANC chorus within communities yet vote with the ANC, abstain or conveniently stay away when key matters were discussed behind closed doors.
With the rejection by the IFP, the motion would appear a futile exercise since the EFF said it would not support it. The DA also appeared disinterested, saying Reddy’s reasons were not what the DA thought would be for the motion but said their caucus was still continuing at the time of the publication.
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