A special City of Tshwane council meeting scheduled for Wednesday, to consider the resignation of Mayor Randall Williams has been cancelled.
The mayor of Tshwane resigned
This follows the resignation of Williams on Friday, after adverse findings by the Auditor-General (AG) and the looming motion of no confidence from the Economic Freedom Fighters.
Also read: Tshwane Mayor Randall Williams resigns
In his resignation letter on Monday, Williams initially said he would resign as of midnight that day.
However, the outgoing mayor then made a U-turn and submitted an amended resignation letter in which he said he would only vacate the office on February 28.
Williams said he was staying in office to “ensure that the core work of the City is not disrupted and that the mayoral committee remains in place”.
Special board meeting cancelled
Tshwane council speaker Murunwa Makwarela confirmed a meeting to consider the two resignation letters conflicting with Williams was canceled because of legal advice his office wanted.
“I need to get legal advice on exactly which letter I should take into cognizance because both letters have legal implications,” said Makwarela, in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.
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He said the mayor’s committee of the multiparty coalition government led by the Democratic Alliance remained in place.
The speaker complained that Williams’ resignation was not handled properly.
He said the metro was “caught between a hard place and a hard place” because Williams is now on special leave until February 28, while the MMC for finance and executive business leader, Alderman Peter Sutton, is now mayor.
Tshwane annual report
At the same time, Makwarela said the mayor’s committee was tasked by the council to make changes to the metro’s annual report, which was submitted during the regular meeting on January 26.
He said the report was approved for a 60-day public participation process, but the board later learned the report was a draft document.
Makwarela said the mayor’s committee will correct the annual report and send it back to the council so that the public participation process can begin.
“This is the puzzle we find ourselves in. Executive business leaders [Sutton] wrote on Monday, requesting that Wednesday’s council meeting be adjourned so that the mayor’s committee can sit and process the new annual report amended by the chairman of the audit performance committee,” Makwarela said.
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