Matisonn: Zille's blue bakkie brigade hits Joburg streets while ANC hasn’t even found its candidate

Two DA campaign fronts collided this week. In Tshwane, mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink launched an urgent court bid accusing council speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana of manipulating a vote to suspend city manager Johann Mettler while letting CFO Gareth Mnisi off on serious misconduct charges, by disqualifying 13 councillors' votes after the fact. Mnisi already faces scrutiny over a R2.9 billion security tender at the Madlanga Commission. In Johannesburg, Helen Zille rolled out ten branded bakkies to fix potholes, streetlights and parks ahead of November's election, as the ANC still can't settle on a mayoral candidate to replace Dada Morero..By John Matisonn.As the ANC dithers over its Johannesburg mayoral candidate choice, DA candidate Helen Zille has deployed ten bakkies in DA blue to clean up parks, mow lawns, fix street lights and potholes and paint traffic lines.Zille told The Common Sense that from today (Wednesday) these teams will work with volunteers and donor funds to repair services subject to municipal neglect in as many diverse wards as possible between now and the election in November.This new phase in her innovative campaign follows a six month social media video blitz exploring water supply failures, unrepaired streets, neglected buildings, abandoned swimming pools and other sports facilities.The ten teams include personnel equipped to fix streetlights, clear garbage, mow lawns, restore sporting facilities, fix potholes and repaint lines on streets. Zille said that now she has researched and publicised many of the problems, this phase would begin repairing them. The ANC has approached several elders in its party to run for Johannesburg mayor, and former clergyman and government official Rev. Frank Chikane is said to be the frontrunner. The ANC has a new leader of the Johannesburg region, so current mayor Dada Moreno is not a serious contender to keep his post. Meanwhile in Tshwane, where opinion polls suggest the DA could come close to its 50% voter target, DA mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink has brought an urgent court application to overturn a key anti-corruption vote in the Tshwane city council. Brink argued that the speaker, Mncedi Ndzwanana, of the African Transformation Movement (ATM), should not have discarded the votes of 13 councillors who were present in council. By rejecting their votes, Ndzwanana reversed the decision of the council, leading to the Economic Freedom Front proposal winning.The DA wants the court to set aside the Council decisions to suspend City Manager Johann Mettler and to classify the alleged misconduct of Chief Financial Officer Gareth Mnisi as "less serious".“After councillors had cast their votes, the Speaker deliberately subtracted votes and reversed the results to achieve predetermined outcomes—suspending a City Manager who stood in the way of corruption while letting the CFO off lightly,” a DA statement said.“This was a blatant abuse of power and a complete disregard for the rule of law and democratic processes.”On the votes concerning Mettler and Mnisi, 13 votes were deducted “from whichever side stood in the way of the outcome favoured by the ANC and EFF.”On the suspension of Mettler, 92 councillors voted in favour and 95 voted against. The motion to suspend him had therefore failed. However, after the Speaker deducted 13 votes from those who voted against the suspension, the result was changed to 92–82, and Mettler was suspended.The same thing happened in the case of Mnisi in reverse. The Council voted 97 to 92 to classify the allegations as serious misconduct. However, after the Speaker deducted 13 votes from those who voted in favour, the result was changed to 84–92, and the motion was defeated.The result was that a vote not to suspend Mettler was turned into a decision to suspend him, while a vote to classify the allegations against Mnisi as serious misconduct was reversed.“If Mettler removed from office for three months, the coalition of corruption could have a free hand over the City's procurement, contracts, and expenditure. By the time he returns, millions of rand in ratepayers' money could already have been looted or committed through irregular contracts.”Mnisi appeared before the Madlanga Commission in April over allegations of corruption in the metro. He faced scrutiny over allegations of tender rigging linked to a R2.9 billion security tender.Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya, from Action South Africa, voted with the DA. The speaker, Mncedi Ndzwanana, is the sole member of the ATM in the council, elected with less than 1,200 votes and below 0.2% of the votes..Read more:.TCS: DA dominates Bryanston as by-election shake-up reshapes councils.The speaker had leave forms for the 13 councillors to be absent on the day that he held the vote, and he argued that by applying for leave on that day they had forfeited their right to vote. His ATM is aligned with the Mkhonto weSizwe Party of former President Jacob Zuma. Former presidency spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi was a member of the ATM from 2019 to 2023, when he joined the MKP. .Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. 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Matisonn: Zille's blue bakkie brigade hits Joburg streets while ANC hasn’t even found its candidate

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