The Democratic Alliance (DA) and its coalition parties in Tshwane were a no-show at the Council sitting today over what has been described as “having other caucus commitments”. 

The DA seems to still be holding on to Cilliers Brink’s defeat last week, which saw Cllr. Dr. Murunwa Makwarela clench the Executive mayoral position, as a result of the vote via secret ballot.

With a new mayor having been elected last week, today's sitting was set to address the election of a new Speaker of the Council- a position previously occupied by Makwarela before becoming mayor.

The DA, along with its coalition parties, Freedom Front Plus and ActionSA were nowhere to be seen in the Council chambers today, and this saw the sitting collapse due to the quorum not being met.

The Joburg Post reached out to the DA, where we inquired as to why members were not present.

DA Ward councillor in Tshwane, Cllr. Jacqui Uys expressed that the party had excused themselves from the sitting due to “other caucus commitments”, adding that the City Manager was made aware before their absence.

According to Uys, the choice to not participate was made by all of the DA’s coalition partners within each of their respective caucuses. Uys further emphasised that the choice was deliberate and that the DA along with its coalition did not want the sitting to proceed.

“We have no intention of ‘collapsing’ anything. That’s not what we do. In any event, you can’t collapse an inquorate meeting. We won’t be rushed into holding a council meeting on the terms of the ANC and the EFF.”- Cllr. Jacqui Uys

The DA’s dissatisfaction comes amid the party's alleging that the new mayor is not competent for the job.

In a statement, the DA expressed that it was informed by a member of the public that the current Executive Mayor, Makwarela had been sequestrated in the Gauteng High Court in 2016.

“Although insolvency is itself not a scandal, an unrehabilitated insolvent is barred by the Constitution from holding public office”- Cllr. Jacqui Uys

The party has since written to the City Manager and Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to probe these allegations further and conduct investigations.