There are times when politics in South Africa enters the realm of farce. Take local government in Tshwane, for example. Last September the council descended into chaos when the EFF took umbrage about municipal workers being fired for participating in an illegal strike. In the bedlam that followed, members of the party reportedly assaulted DA councillors; according to City Press, the DA’s Shane Maas had his shirt ripped off in the fracas.
What did the speaker do? Far from berating the EFF, he apparently called Maas to order for “disrespecting women councillors” and “for walking around the council chamber without a shirt”.
It’s the stuff of satirists’ dreams. Only, it masks something much more sinister: the use of threat and force to get one’s way in politics.
Chaos reigned supreme in the Tshwane council chambers again last week, where threats were thrown about like T-shirts at an ANC election rally.
On this occasion, the council was set to table various reports that would affect service delivery in the metro. Instead, the ANC signalled its intention to table an urgent motion of no confidence against mayor Cilliers Brink. It also demanded — with the EFF riding shotgun — that Brink retract remarks he’d made on social media suggesting the party remains a looting machine. Brink refused on the grounds that his comments weren’t made in chambers.
From there things went sideways — and quickly. The business of the day took a distant back seat as councillors hurled insults at each other — including “small white boy”, “white model” and “drunkards”.
Things reached a head when the EFF’s Obakeng Ramabodu — apparently in response to a threat that he would be beaten up — said (and later retracted): “I would be happy to moer a boer; that would be nice. I want the blood of an Afrikaner.” Fee-fi-fo-fum.
In the disorder, the motion of no confidence fell by the wayside. As did all other council business. So much for working for the people.
The ANC is unhappy with new regulations around waste management that could turn off the patronage taps
It’s unclear — perhaps even to the ANC itself — why it sought to bring the motion of no confidence. On the one hand, it has repeatedly claimed it’s about tackling shoddy service delivery in the capital. But in a social media post, Brink said it’s about the ANC backing some senior council officials facing disciplinary action — even though that’s a function that falls to municipal management rather than elected officials such as himself. Then there’s the other possible reason: the ANC is unhappy with new regulations around waste management that could turn off the patronage taps.
According to an affidavit by finance MMC Jacqui Uys, ANC regional secretary George Matjila reportedly even went so far as to call her to complain about the new regulations and threaten a motion of no confidence.
Now, the rules, which took effect last month, aren’t outlandish. They require that refuse trucks are roadworthy, that they are fitted with trackers to monitor routes, and that they be less than nine years old to reduce the likelihood of breakdowns that affect service delivery. It’s not overly burdensome either: Ekurhuleni and Joburg set the maximum age of trucks at three and five years respectively.
But it is this that seems to be the sticking point: the ANC claims that the nine-year limit prejudices black businesses. Brink dismisses the argument as a red herring, telling City Press most of the current contractors and subcontractors are in any case black-owned and “do not have a problem complying with the performance standards”.
The real issue — at least as the DA tells it — is that the regulations will affect ANC officials who benefit from an outsourced business that costs the metro north of R720m a year. Not exactly chump change.
In particular, the DA singles out Matjila: Uys claims in her affidavit that he has interests in the refuse removal business. And while he’s denied having a contract with the city, Daily Maverick’s Ferial Haffajee writes that city and ANC officials say it’s common knowledge that Matjila has subcontracts with Tshwane. When asked by News24 if he had any trucks doing work for the city, he apparently sidestepped the question. Asked expressly about subcontracting, he opted for incoherence: “As to whether I’ve got a blue tracksuit or a black tracksuit, it’s none of [Uys’s] business.”
Now, it could be that the ANC’s hands are clean. However, given the many thousands of pages of the Zondo report exposing the rot in the party, you’d be forgiven for taking a cynical view.
While the politicking is playing out, some are attempting to hold the city hostage. According to The Citizen, metro spokesperson Selby Bokaba said disgruntled subcontractors had blocked landfill sites, and there were reports of threats and intimidation directed at city officials, and attacks on refuse removal trucks. The publication quotes Uys as saying: “Matjila’s motion of no confidence threat over the new waste tender aligns with the mobilisation of disqualified waste contractors, indicating a co-ordinated effort.”
If true, it’s all very Tony Soprano. And it would speak to the mafia state South Africa is devolving into. It would be, in a word, extortion — and giving in to that would set a dangerous precedent, for the metro and the country. Brink and Uys seem to be holding the line. For that, they should be applauded, and their actions seen as an inspiration for all 257 local councils in the country.
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