Official opposition tables Bill to limit motions to remove mayors

Official opposition tables Bill to limit motions to remove mayors

The official opposition has tabled a Bill that will limit motions of no confidence in the mayors to prevent instability in municipalities.

Gauteng metros and other municipalities in the country have faced unstable coalitions in the last few years.

Ekurhuleni is without a mayor after Sivuyile Ngodwana of the African Independent Congress (AIC) was removed in a motion of no confidence. Ngodwana was part of the African National Congress (ANC) coalition with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

Johannesburg has had three mayors since the 2021 local government elections. Mpho Phalatse of the Democratic Alliance (DA) was succeeded by Thapelo Amad of Al-Jama-ah, who in turn was removed and replaced by his colleague in Al-Jama-ah Kabelo Gwamanda.

Nelson Mandela Bay metro first elected Eugene Johnson of the ANC in 2021, but she was replaced by Retief Odendaal of the DA, who was also removed and replaced by Gary van Niekerk of the Northern Alliance last year.

Chief whip of the Democratic Alliance Siviwe Gwarube said the Municipal Structures Amendment Bill will prevent the speed in which motions of no confidence in the mayors are tabled in councils.

This will allow for more stability in the running of municipalities and the delivery of services.

The bill said motions of no confidence have been abused in municipalities.

It proposes that a motion can only be tabled once a year and there must be sufficient grounds for it to be approved.

“Clause 3 amends the Act by amending section 58 to provide that a motion tabled for the removal of an executive mayor or deputy executive mayor may only be brought once per 12-month period,” ,” states the bill.

“Clause 3 also provides that notwithstanding this limitation a motion for the removal of an executive mayor or deputy executive mayor may also be brought at any time where particular grounds have been met. Upon tabling of such a motion, the speaker must refer the motion to an independent panel to establish the validity of said motion.”

The face of local government has changed in the last two decades. While there were 24 hung municipalities in 2000 this number increased to 81 in the 2021 local government elections.

This forced many parties to form coalitions across the country.

The bill said it recognised the fact coalitions will be the way to go moving forward.

But it warned that coalitions must not compromise service delivery at local level with the change of mayors at every turn.

There have been many unstable coalitions since the 2021 local polls.

The Bill states that some of the motions of no confidence are brought on spurious grounds by opposition parties to remove a sitting mayor.

It adds that in some cases motions are abused to reward smaller parties, who would otherwise not get elected into positions of mayor.

“However, what we have witnessed at municipal level are continuous political attacks on coalition governments from opposition parties who politick smaller parties to cross the floor in exchange for valuable Mayoral Committee positions, should the current government be successfully removed by way of a motion of no confidence,” states the bill.

“What we see in practice is motions of no confidence being used as a political tool, rather than for the mechanism it was originally intended, being a process to remove a speaker or mayor from office due to them not fulfilling their duties adequately,” it continues.

“In fact, these motions are brought on spurious grounds only because the opposition coalition has 50% +1 of the votes to pass the motion. The result is that these motions make cities or municipalities ungovernable as a new Executive is installed every other month, not allowing the incumbent government enough time to actually make a difference.”

It said this practice needs to be stopped and the only way do it is to limit the motions of no confidence in the mayor or speaker of council.

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