Former Mayor of Mogale City Michael Holenstein
Opposition parties have vowed to make Mogale City municipality ungovernable after the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Michael Holenstein was removed as mayor in a Council meeting on Wednesday.
Chaos erupted when supporters of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) stormed into the council meeting chanting and demanding that the ANC’s Patrick Lipuli be removed as speaker.
This came after the results of the motion tabled against Holenstein were announced.
The speaker was accused by both the members of the council and EFF supporters of deliberately disregarding the views of opposition parties.
The city is governed by a coalition formed by the DA with 27 seats, the EFF with 9 seats, Inkhatha Freedom Party (IFP) with 2 seats and the Freedom Front Plus (VF+) with one seat. The ANC has 38 seats and the opposition parties combined have 39 seats.
A total of 77 councillors voted, 39 for the motion and 38 against. Resulting in the removal of Holenstein as mayor.
The city remains without a mayor after opposition parties vehemently rejected the speaker’s calls to nominate a new mayor.
Lipuli said he was disappointed about how abruptly the council meeting ended and says the disruptions were signs of opposition parties’ disregard for democracy.
“The EFF brought their supporters there to deliberately invade the council meeting. I then adjourned the meeting for safety of councillors and officials. It is clear the DA/EFF coalition do not appreciate democracy. If it does not work for them they insult and curse it,” said Lipuli.
“Since the DA-led coalition government was formed after 2016 local elections it has never adopted any critical or important decisions such as the budget with the making sure that it frustrates processes.”