EFF councillor and chairperson Obakeng Ramabodu. (Photo: @EFFGautengProv / X) 
The City of Tshwane’s council meeting on Thursday, which was scheduled to pass crucial reports affecting the municipality’s more than 4 million residents, was abruptly adjourned and postponed indefinitely after racial threats of violence were bandied about by councillors.
The tension arose after ANC and EFF councillors demanded an apology from the executive mayor, Cilliers Brink, over remarks he had made in recent days suggesting that the ANC’s days of looting and mismanagement were not over.
Brink refused to apologise on the grounds that the remarks were not made in council.
This led to multiple points of order, shouting, heckling and insults being traded.
“You’re a small boy”, “You’re a fool”, “white model” and “drunkards” were some of the epithets bandied about. Matters escalated when threats were seemingly directed at the EFF’s councillor and chairperson, Obakeng Ramabodu, that he would be beaten up.
In response, Ramabodu said, “I would be happy to moer a boer; that would be nice. I want the blood of an Afrikaner, I want it.”
After a lunch break, the council Speaker, the ATM’s Mncedi Ndzwanana, ordered Ramabodu to apologise and retract the statement — a demand to which he acceded.
“I see that it is trending even on social media … I was told I was going to be beaten, and I said, ‘I would suck the blood of an Afrikaner’ — but if that was taken out of context ... then I will apologise and withdraw,” said Ramabodu.
Read more: City of Tshwane tables R50bn budget aimed at improving finances — amid EFF disruption
The DA said it would report Ramabodu to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and “lay criminal charges” in a bid to hold him accountable for “incitement to violence and hate speech”.
Willie Aucamp, the DA’s national spokesperson, said: “The councillor’s statement, expressing a desire to ‘moer a boer’ and his utterance that he ‘wants the blood of an Afrikaner’, is a blatant display of hate speech and racism that has no place in our democratic society.
“The EFF is a party of hatred and chaos. They are the ‘breakers’ that seek to sow division and incite violence, undermining the values of unity and respect that our nation is built upon.”
Motion of no confidence
The tension came amid the ANC’s intention to table an urgent motion of no confidence against Mayor Brink. The ANC had repeatedly said this was because of the lack of service delivery in the city.
The ANC does not have sufficient numbers to pass the motion. It was banking on councillors in the governing multiparty coalition voting with their “conscience” and not political affiliation.
The DA-led multiparty’s caucus chairperson Jacqui Uys said they were ready to defeat the motion and rally behind Brink.
“The multiparty government, with its majority, is confident going into the motion of no confidence. However, we call upon the Republican Conference Tshwane, Patriotic Alliance, Congress of the People, Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, Good, African Transformation Movement and African Independent Congress to stand against this [motion], and not support the ANC to further ANC business interests.
“We will not allow the ANC to undo all the progress we’ve made in the name of self-interest,” said Uys.
If the motion succeeds, it will not be a first for the city. In 2023, the late Murunwa Makwarela (Cope) received 112 votes and Brink received 101 votes in a mayoral election, suggesting some councillors in the DA-led coalition camp had voted in favour of Makwarela.
Service delivery suffers
Service delivery in Tshwane, like that in Johannesburg, is near collapse following the formation of chaotic coalitions after the 2021 local government elections in which no party won a majority.
This month, City Manager Johann Mettler introduced a new waste management contract for service providers. It included three new rules: no waste management truck can be older than nine years old and all must have a valid registration licence (about 70% of previous contractors could not produce one) and a GPS.
That allegedly led to the no-confidence motion threat because most contractors, some of whom are allegedly aligned to the ANC, didn’t make the grade. The city also tightened subcontracting rules as political interests are veiled when beneficial ownership is unclear.
On Thursday, the ANC made an about-turn and withdrew the motion temporarily. The party’s regional secretary George Matjila dismissed suggestions that the motion had anything to do with the new waste management contracts.
He said the motion had not been tabled within 24 hours as required by law.
Matjila did not rule out the possibility of tabling the motion during the next council sitting. “It’s a tactical retreat, temporarily so,” he said.
Commenting on the conduct of EFF councillors, Matjila said: “We believe in robust engagement; we do not support anarchy, we don’t subscribe to political ill-discipline where people are being insulted, others are being threatened with violence.”
A visibly irked Ndzwanana summoned all the political party leaders to a meeting in his office on Thursday afternoon after not a single item on the agenda was deliberated upon. DM