Today's obstruction of the no confidence vote in the Tswhane Speaker Cllr Morekane Mosupyoe by the Speaker herself is an assault on constitutional democracy and a worrying sign of things to come.
By refusing to vacate her seat in deciding to strike down the motion the Speaker offended one of the most basic tenants of natural justice: a person cannot be a judge in her own case.
It is no exaggeration that this term of the Council has produced the worst Speaker that Tshwane has had in its 12 year existence. Consequently the role of Council has never been as insignificant as now.
In her eight months in office Cllr Mosupyoe has destroyed her credibility as a fair, informed and efficient presiding officer of the local legislature.
She treats opposition councillors with complete disdain and abuses her powers to shut down debate and protect the city government from scrutiny.
The DA charge sheet against Cllr Mosupyoe, which should according to the Council Rules should have been discussed today, include the following:
· The Speaker has descended into the arena of political contestation by using so-called ‘unopposed motions by the Speaker’ to prevent discussion on items of the Council’s agenda.
· The Speaker has disregarded various requests by opposition councillors to have her rulings referred to the Council’s Rules and Ethics Committee, in contravention of Council Rules and Orders.
· The Speaker has ignored important correspondence from councillors, deleting her emails before they are read, as well as three applications in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act.
· The Speaker presided over the failed and unlawful 2012 ward committee elections in the city. A R7 million tender was awarded to publicise the elections, while this task could easily have been performed by staff in the Speaker’s office.
· Audio transcripts of Council meetings have gone missing under the Speaker’s watch, and reasonable suspicion exists that the Speaker may have lied to Council about proof of service of important documents to Councillors.
By squashing the no confidence motion in the Tshwane Metro Council it seems the ANC's turn against the Constitution and an open society, evidenced by the Protection of State Information Bill and the Media Tribunal, is spilling over to local level.
The DA will not back down in our fight against the Speaker. The essence of our argument is the ability of DA Councillors to represent the 40% of Tshwane residents who voted for us. We can not adhere to instructions from a biased impartial autocrat and will continue until our constitutional rights to participatory democracy are respect.
