DA councillor Warwick Chapman tweeted about a “huge argument” between the DA and the ANC during a full meeting of the eThekwini Council.
|||Wednesday’s full meeting of the eThekwini Council, the last before members go into mid-year recess, went viral during proceedings when DA councillor Warwick Chapman “tweeted” to followers that matters had taken an unforeseen turn.
He reported on a “huge argument” between the DA and the ANC regarding a proposal to send an under-15 women’s soccer team to South Korea to enjoy international exposure in the sister city of Daejeon.
“The ANC said two councillors should accompany them, then when the DA opposed the idea, increased the number to five, unilaterally voted in support of their amendment and ignoring a legal opinion in doing so,” wrote Chapman.
“The ANC’s Logie Naidoo, council Speaker, having allowed the ANC to motivate for the idea and denigrate the DA, then shut down a series of DA speakers who rose to speak against the amendment.”
He alleged that during recess, “the ANC, as if it was a political rally, resorted to singing and dancing, chanting that they would impose their will. Any pretence that this was about how best to spend public money was abandoned.”
In a recording of the meeting, made by DA members, councillor William Mapene, ethics committee head, is heard to say: “Because the dawn of democracy allowed Africans to enjoy the benefits that were enjoyed by the whites, now (inaudible) those benefits are becoming an issue of ratepayers’ money.”
Mapene said later it would not be appropriate for him to discuss the issue with the media.
Naidoo said the furore was based on misunderstandings.
“Former mayor Obed Mlaba was received very hospitably by the people of Daejeon on an official visit, during which he signed a memorandum of understanding. An eight-man delegation later visited us in Durban and urged the mayor to send exco members and businessmen to learn more about how we could benefit one another’s cities. South Korea is a very untapped market for KZN and the rest of SA.”
He said the matter of the delegation would normally have been handled at committee level, but had reached exco because there was no time left to caucus separately.
Sunday Independent