Tshwane ANC wants disciplinary hearing for council Speaker Katlego Mathebe

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Pretoria - The ANC in Tshwane has filed an urgent court application at the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria. The ANC wants council Speaker Katlego Mathebe to be subjected to a disciplinary hearing for allegedly blocking proposed motions to unseat her. Regional party chairperson Dr Kgosi Maepa cited in court papers that the call was in line with a directive by the MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Lebogang Maile. Last month Maile suspended Mathebe after he called into question the manner in which she ran the council meeting on January 16. He subsequently retracted his decision in the wake of a legal challenge by the DA. However, in court papers, Maepa said: "The MEC then lifted the suspension to enable Mathebe to preside over the council meeting that was scheduled for January 30 2020 and further directed council to start disciplinary proceedings."

The ANC approached the court, seeking for an order forcing the City of Tshwane to convene an urgent disciplinary hearing against Mathebe.

The party also wanted the court to nullify the appointment of acting Speaker Zweli Khumalo, citing it was unlawful.

In his founding affidavit, Maepa said Khumalo's appointment was an internal political arrangement to have a smooth-running council and it was not necessarily backed up by any legal prescript.

The party wanted Mathebe to afford councillors a chance to deliberate on a council resolution adopted on January 26 2017, which saw Khumalo's appointment of the acting Speaker.

Khumalo was installed into the position to preside over council meetings in the event Mathebe was unavailable.

On January 16 and 30, respectively, the ANC and EFF made futile attempts to rescind the resolution to appoint Khumalo.

The ANC and EFF councillors also raised an issue of conflict against Khumalo during a chaotic council meeting on December 5.

Parties deemed Khumalo's position as being conflicted by virtue of being part of the office of the Speaker against whom a motion of no confidence was brought.

Also embroiled into a legal tiff was council chief whip Christo van den Heever, who was accused of the same transgressions as Mathebe.

DA Gauteng chairman Mike Moriarty said the party would oppose the application, saying the ANC would struggle to prove the urgency of the matter.

He said the case of the alleged misconduct against Mathebe and Van den Heever was "a feeble attempt by the ANC to try and win back some of the losses inflicted on them in recent court judgements".

The ANC petitioned the court for the application to be heard tomorrow, but it was still unclear whether it would go ahead as proposed.

Pretoria News