Tshwane council Speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana has defended his decision to have DA councillors forcibly removed by private security from the council chamber, citing repeated disruptions and disregard for his authority.
The removed councillors, Kwena Moloto and Katlego Makgaleng, claim the incident was an attack on democracy and a coordinated effort to silence them.
The clothes of both councillors were ripped during their removal in full view of coalition government councillors who clapped hands, heckled and filmed the incident.
In a media interview, Moloto said violence unleashed against him and Makgaleng was an attack “on democracy and it was a coordinated effort throughout the day”.
“We heard ANC speakers and EFF speakers constantly saying to the speaker of council that ‘we have private security outside and let us not allow for fruitless and wasteful expenditure by not using them’,”he said.
Their removal came minutes after deputy Mayor Eugene Modise said: “We procured bouncers there and you (Speaker) are not utilising them and those two chaps there qualify to be taken out. Can you utilise our bouncers optimally?
Ndzwanana, however, labelled claims by the opposition parties on social media and news platforms as “the false narrative”.
He said the councillors’ unbecoming behaviour in council began during the continuation of the September council meeting on the day and continued into the October meeting, prompting him to issue numerous warnings to them.
When they refused to comply, he instructed council orderlies to remove them, citing Sections 36 and 37 of the rules and orders by-laws, 2021.
Section 36 empowers the speaker or committee chairperson to order a member to retire from the meeting on the grounds of “irrelevance, tedious repetition, unbecoming language or any breach of order on the part of that member”.
On the other hand, Section 37 empowers the speaker to order the removal of the councillor from the meeting.
Ndzwanana spokesperson Sthembiso Sithole said councillors refused to heed the speaker’s warning “and continued to demonstrate unbecoming behaviour which disrupted the proceedings”.
“It was at that stage that the Speaker of council instructed one of the councillors to please retire from the meeting numerous times. The councillor refused to leave, and it was then that the Speaker of council asked that the council orderlies enter the chambers and remove the said councillor,”he said.
He said the removal was not unprecedented, as previous Speakers have used similar measures to maintain order.
“It is therefore shocking to Speaker Ndzwanana, that councillors from the opposition parties feel that they are untouchable and that the rules and orders of council do not apply to them,” he said.
Pretoria News