Cape Town – The 33rd Johannesburg council meeting descended into chaos on Monday after DA Councillor Bea Campbell-Cloete quoted a statement declaring, “#JoburgMustFall and #DadaMoreroMustVoetsek” during her address.
In her speech on the current state of Johannesburg, Campbell-Cloete criticised the city’s service delivery, pointing to poor municipal performance and what she described as a false narrative portraying Johannesburg as a flourishing city.
“You cannot market a world class African city, while residents sit in the dark for a week and queue for water for months. The balance is wrong.
“Too much focuses on branding and photo opportunities, too little on the realities residents face daily”, she said.
Adding to her statement, she cited trending hashtags used by Johannesburg residents between 3 and 6 April, which included #JoburgMustFall and #DadaMoreroMustVoetsek.
Her remarks sparked an immediate reaction from the other councillors, including Speaker of Council, Councillor Margaret Arnolds, who swiftly reprimanded her following the comments.
One of the ANC councillors hit back at her and told Campbell-Cloet, “You are disrespectful, you think Dada is your dog”.
Other councillors immediately demanded her removal from the meeting and called for her to be barred from speaking in the chamber, chanting “She must go!” towards the Speaker.
According to The Citizen, DA caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku came to the defence of Campbell-Cloete and said that she was merely quoting a statement.
“When DA Councillor Campbell-Cloete referred to a trending hashtag on Twitter, reflecting residents’ frustrations with collapsing service delivery, the ANC retaliated.
“Instead of upholding fairness, the Speaker referred the DA councillor to the Ethics Committee.
“This ruling is inconsistent and biased. There is a clear precedent where ANC, EFF and PAC councillors have quoted external statements in Council without being referred to ethics”, she said.
Kayser-Echeozonjoku also brought up that she had been reprimanded for quoting ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe and criticising ANC councillors during a recent roll-call meeting.
“The issue began when I quoted ANC National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe’s own words: ‘ANC councillors are good at singing but capacity and service delivery dololo’.
“Despite this being a public statement, the Speaker ruled against me in favour of the ANC”, she said.
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Compiled by Anda Tolibadi
