A Johannesburg City council meeting erupted in an uproar on Thursday when the Economic Freedom Fighters prevented an ANC councillor from speaking.

The EFF accused African National Congress councillor Jabu Thomo of being involved in business with the city.

“The code of conduct states very clear that if you are a councillor of the City of Johannesburg you should not do business with the city‚ whether directly with the city or through entities that belong to the city‚” said EFF councillor Musa Novela who prevented Thomo from continuing with his speech.

“Councillor Jabu Thomo is the director operative that has been awarded a contract through a programme of Jozi@Work‚ so he has clearly violated the code of conduct. Why should we sit in council and listen to a guy who wants to debate on the issues which are very related to the Jozi@Work programmes?” Novela queried.

However‚ speaking to TMG Digital on the sidelines‚ speaker of the Johannesburg Council Vasco Da Gama said the matter was currently being investigated and that he therefore could not order Thomo to sit down and not address the council.

“The point of order had got to do with a councillor that they believe has been getting contracts through the Jozi@Work programme (empowers community enterprises) and that has been brought to our attention but it has to go through ethics. The ethics and integrity commissioner will investigate that matter‚” Da Gama said.

“Up until he is found guilty‚ we cannot prevent him from speaking in council. It was evident that the EFF were trying to cause chaos on this particular issue‚ but it’s something that I will have to deal with‚” added Da Gama.

Asked to comment on the EFF’s accusations‚ Thomo said: “Ethics will deal with the matter as there are accusations that I’m a member of an entity.”

 The name of Thomo’s company could not immediately be established.