Monday’s council meeting was marred by several dramatic events, including the appearance of the DA’s Helen Zille.
The DA in Johannesburg has defended the use of the word voetsek in a council meeting on Monday.
This comes after the sitting degenerated when one of their councillors used the word in her speech.
DA councillor Bea Campbell-Cloete complained about how the city was spending huge amounts of money on marketing and events while residents were suffering with basic service delivery.
“How do you market a world-class African city while residents sit in the dark for a week and queue for water for months? The balance is wrong.
“Too much focus is on branding and photo opportunities and too little on the realities that residents face daily.
“According to a report for the fourth quarter, under key achievements, our flagship achievement was not fixing water outages or leaks, it was a golf swing…At the same time, during the 3rd and 6th of April, trending hashtags used by the community were #JoburgMustFall and #DadaMoreroMustVoetsek,” said Campbell-Cloete.
ANC defends Morero
The ANC caucus quickly came to Dada Morero’s defence and started hurling insults back at Campbell-Cloete. They also requested the Speaker of the Council, Margaret Arnolds, to refer the matter to the Ethics Committee.
“You are disrespectful, you think Dada is your dog,” said one ANC councillor.
Another suggested that Campbell-Cloete be barred from speaking in council ever again.
DA defends Campbell
DA caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku told The Citizen on Tuesday that Campbell-Cloete was simply using a quote.
“When DA Councillor Campbell-Cloete referred to a trending hashtag on Twitter, reflecting residents’ frustrations with collapsing service delivery, the ANC retaliated. Instead of upholding fairness, the Speaker referred the DA councillor to the Ethics Committee.
“This ruling is inconsistent and biased. There is a clear precedent where ANC, EFF and PAC councillors have quoted external statements in Council without being referred to ethics,” she said.
‘Capacity dololo’
Kayser-Echeozonjoku said she has also been reprimanded for quoting ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe and criticising ANC councillors during a recent roll-call meeting.
“The issue began when I quoted ANC National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe’s own words: ‘ANC councillors are good at singing but capacity and service delivery dololo‘. Despite this being a public statement, the Speaker ruled against me in favour of the ANC,” she said.
A warning to councillors
Arnolds told councillors to be more careful when using quotations in council.
“I am going to take the councillor to [the] ethics [committee], and she will defend herself there,” she said.
The agenda for Monday’s meeting will continue today.
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