Disorder, dissension and disciplinary action took up more than two hours of a City of Cape Town full council meeting.
|||Cape Town - Disorder, dissension and disciplinary action took up more than two hours of Wednesday’s full council meeting, as the ANC and the Speaker, Dirk Smit, locked horns about how to behave in the chamber.
The name-calling started when mayor Patricia de Lille used her speech to accuse the opposition of “arrogance” and of not allowing “the facts or the law” to get in the way of their “wrong-headed” strategies.
She then lambasted ANC councillor Tony Ehrenreich for his condemnation of the city’s shift allowance policy for pregnant firefighters. “This is standard labour practice that protects the employer and the employee, but it is not good enough for Mr Ehrenreich who has flouted all of these conventions in his desire to see his name in the newspaper.”
Ehrenreich never got an opportunity to defend himself, as the Speaker cut him short during his allotted question time.
Smit chastised the ANC for their poor behaviour, saying there was clearly a lack of leadership.
Attempts by the ANC to interrogate De Lille on various issues during the question period were shut down by the Speaker, who cautioned councillors Daniel Mphila and Bheki Hadebe that they were out or order for taking too long to formulate their questions.
After two warnings, both councillors were instructed to leave the chamber. Outraged, ANC councillors demanded that the Speaker reconsider, and Smit had to allow a 15 minute recess so that the party could meet to discuss their response. However, the ANC failed to return to the chamber, forcing Smit to continue the meeting with just 132 councillors.
The ANC were absent for almost an hour, but there were still enough councillors for a quorum. When the opposition eventually returned to their seats, Smit apologised for saying the ANC had no leadership.
He would, however, only allow Mphila and Hadebe to return once they, too, had apologised.
Ehrenreich accepted Smit’s apology on behalf of the ANC, but cautioned that personal debates detracted from important issues and created a “toxic” environment.
anel.lewis@inl.co.za
Cape Argus
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