The African National Congress (ANC) in Greater Johannesburg on Monday criticised the Speaker of Council in the city for his application of the rules of Council following the collapse of two sittings recently.

This comes after council sittings on November 25 and on December 7 collapsed and were dismissed after the opposition ANC did not agree with the ruling Democratic Alliance (DA) over the application of Council rules by the Speaker.

Last week, the council sitting degenerated into chaos when Joburg Mayor Herman Mashaba avoided questions posed to him regarding the first quarter report of his office.

In a statement, ANC Greater Johannesburg spokesperson, Jolidee Matongo, blamed Speaker Vasco da Gama for failing to invoke his powers in Council by choosing to convene a Special Council meeting within 72 hours to sit on Monday instead.

Matongo said they viewed the actions of the Speaker as “poor political management” of Council and a “direct failure” to apply the Standing Rules of Council.

Matongo said Da Gama had specifically failed to exercise his power using the Standing Rules of Council when he was afraid to make a ruling on whether a request for a rollcall by a councillor was frivolous and vexatious.

“The failure of the Speaker to apply the rules caused the adjournment of the Council meeting,” Matongo said.

“It is our considered view that the Speaker will do everything to secure his seat and the DA’s stay in power even if it means not applying the Standing Rules of Council.”

Tanya Heydenrych, media specialist at the Office of the Mayor, could not be reached for comment as her phone was off.

Matongo said the Speaker was supposed to invoke the Standing Rules of Council which would have allowed him to call Mashaba to order and make him commit to provide answers at the next meeting.

He said they respected the prerogative of the Speaker to call a Special Council meeting, but that they believed that there was no urgency in reconvening a Council meeting on Monday, given the temperamental and toxic nature of Council meetings in which Council found itself.

He said the meeting last week was the last meeting for the year as per the Council’s schedule of meetings.

“It is our considered view that a third Council meeting within a short space of time is not advisable, especially so soon after the collapse of the two meetings,” Matongo said.

“We call for a cooling off of tempers and a reflection on how Council meetings are conducted by all the parties represented in Council rather than rushing to convene a Council meeting.”

The ANC in Johannesburg has been at loggerheads with the DA and Mashaba since he cancelled its “vanity projects” worth R270-million per year, including mushroom farms, paper produced from stone, solar-powered bakeries using imported mango flour from South America, and bicycle lanes.