The EFF in Emfuleni municipality wants councillors to go through breathalyser tests ahead of council meetings.

But, the red berets' proposal, tabled as a motion, was shot down in council yesterday. It came as the party accuses mayor Jacob Khawe of having touched the bottle ahead of the state of the municipality address in June.

EFF councillor Mpho Motaung said they left before the speech started as they felt Khawe came to the event "drunk". He said it was important that councillors were tested for alcohol before council meetings.

"We respect ourselves and the community. We are saying let's do the right thing going forward by doing a breathalyser testing before council and any other programme related to council," Motaung said yesterday.

However, the ANC, which has the majority in council, rejected the proposal, saying it was more of an allegation than anything else.

Member of the mayoral committee of infrastructure development, Khethiwe Ntombela said: "We respect ourselves. unless the fighter (EFF member) is being sangomatic (sic). She has not determined that the mayor was drunk. I want us to clear the issue.

"There was no way the mayor could come to council tipsy as they allege. We are being given an allegation and it is not true."

EFF councillor Moyakazi Mazibuko entered the fray, saying anybody could see that the mayor was not himself, hence the party could not stay for the proceedings to respect its voters.

"We came here before the process started. That is where we witnessed that he was reeking of alcohol. We witnessed it in broad daylight, ekseni (in the morning), he did not have balance in his legs)" Mazibuko said.

She added: "We must not lie to the community. We are really saying, that which happened, can we as council guard against it from happening again by using breathalysers."

Speaker of council, Maipato Tsokolibane, ruled that there was council policy which dealt with suspected misconduct, and ordered the EFF to follow those proper channels.

Khawe joined the struggling municipality in November.

He replaced Simon Mofokeng who was facing sexual grooming charges in court. Before joining Emfuleni, Khawe was the chairperson of the portfolio committee on transport in the Gauteng legislature.

Emfuleni municipality has been struggling with its finances which has impacted badly on its investment in infrastructure. Currently, the SA Human Rights Commission is investigating sewage which is running into the Vaal River due to poor waste water infrastructure.