Bottles fly as Tshwane council sitting descends into chaos

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Pretoria - A monthly council sitting at Sammy Marks Council Chamber degenerated into chaos when some councillors threw water bottles and a chair at each other. ANC councillor in Ga-Rankuwa ward 32 Floyd Thema, who was at the centre of the fracas, claimed he sustained minor injuries as a result of the bottle hurled at him. Thema clashed with the EFF councillors after one of them remarked that he was putting on a suit. In reply Thema said: "You didn't buy me a suit. Why do you say that I am wearing a suit?" Thema was on the podium to respond to utterances by mayor Solly Msimanga that he was behind the circulation of WhatsApp messages, in which threats were made to disrupt a public meeting to be hosted by the mayor in Ga-Rankuwa on Saturday.

As he was still on his feet, some EFF councillors continued to make remarks at him.

He then retorted by referring to them as "the red ants".

There was suddenly a commotion in council as water bottles were thrown in the air and some councillors dived for a cover.

There was an adjournment of the sitting to allow calm to be restored.

Minutes later the meeting convened and an ANC councillor, Jabulani Rammushi, asked to refer an EFF councillor, who allegedly threw a chair at Thema to the ethics committee.

The committee is responsible for investigating the unbecoming behaviour of councillors with a view to taking disciplinary action against them.



"We want to refer that councilor because of his behaviour," he said.

Rammushi also referred a DA councillor, Dikeledi Seloa, for speaking out in council that there were people, who protested against Thema outside the chamber.

Protesters chanted songs and held up placards with the face of Themba on them.

"Those people don't have money they have been transported to come here. During lunch time they will come in to eat the council food," Rammushi said.

EFF leader Moafrika Mabogoane also requested to refer Rammushi for allegedly throwing 10 bottles of water at his councillors.

ANC caucas leader Mapiti Matsena said: "Our open plea from this side is that the public meeting on Saturday be postponed."

He asked Msimanga to elevate whatever problems he might be having with Thema to ANC leaders.

"The matter is not even on the agenda. Let the matter be between myself, the chief whip, the mayor and the councillor. Let's deal with the matter outside because it is not even on the agenda," he said.

Thema told Msimanga that he was politically in charge of ward 32.

He denied that he was behind the circulation of messages on WhatsApp that he was part of a group planning to disrupt a planned public meeting.

"The mayor doesn't have my number. There was a message that was passed around when the mayor was with his DA entourage in Ga-Rankuwa," he said.

Msimanga said he was approached by a group of angry residents during his recent visit to oversee one of the projects.

The group wanted to raise complaints regarding poor service delivery in the township.

"We agreed that the 30th of this month will be the day in which we would meet the community," he said.

Msimanga said a letter had been drafted and sent to the councillor, who refused to take a hard copy of the letter.

Instead, he said, Thema insisted on having the electronic version of the letter.

Pretoria News