By Neelam Rahim

The multi-party coalition in the City of Johannesburg has laid criminal charges against the ANC voting bloc in the City. The bribery and corruption charges resulted from the axing of DA Speaker Vasco da Gama through a no-confidence vote last week. The multi-party coalition also expressed concern over repeated claims by Chair of Chairs Councillor Colleen Makhubele that she is the Acting Speaker of the City of Johannesburg.

Dr Corne Mulder, who speaks on behalf of the multi-party coalition, joined in the discussion with Radio Islam International.

According to Dr Mulder, four councillors from coalition parties decided to break ranks with the decisions taken by the joint cooperates, and they voted against the decisions taken. That made it possible for that motion to succeed.

He said one of them was Colleen Makhubele. She currently occupies the Chair of Chairs in the council, a position coalition partners elected to her.

There is no position called ‘acting speaker’. Suppose the council speaker leaves the chamber during a meeting for whatever reason. The process is that the Chair of Chairs then acts in that position, he added.

“After the vote of no confidence, Colleen went into the Chair to complete the meeting, and that is the end of that role.”

The rules make it clear that the city manager will deal with all these issues until a speaker is elected at a follow-up council meeting.

Dr Mulder stated that in their possession is an affidavit of one of the councillors who was approached by two other councillors who tried to convince this person not to attend the meeting to ensure the number of the coalition group falls. He was offered a massive sum of money which he refused.

According to Dr Mulder, he was approached by the same two councillors during the meeting and offered a sum of R3 million to vote with them against the speaker, which he also refused.

One of the IEC councillors voted against the coalition, and it has now been alleged that he received a hundred thousand rands in his account to ensure he voted a certain way. The South African Police have been asked to investigate the allegation.

Regarding the coalition’s strength now, Dr Mulder said the ANC and EFF used the smaller parties.

“The ANC and the EFF are behind the broader scheme in bringing this coalition to a fall.”

The crisis is not within the different political parties in the coalition. The parties are united and committed to the alliance.

Listen to the interview on Radio Islam’s podcast below.