It's official, Tshwane does not have a mayoral committee

The City of Tshwane does not have a legally constituted mayoral committee (mayco), says council speaker Dr Murunwa Makwarela.

Addressing members of the media on Tuesday, while giving an update on the mayor Randall Williams' resignation, Makwarela, said he sought a legal opinion on the two different resignation letters sent by the mayor which contained separate dates.

On February 13, Williams announced he would be stepping down from his position at midnight. Later that day, he sent Makwarela another letter changing the effective date of his resignation to February 28.

By then, Makwarela had already accepted the mayor's resignation, which has been a bone of contention and confusion in the embattled municipality.

"I noted the concern from opposition parties in council, regarding the confusion caused by the two resignation letters submitted by the executive mayor, due to the various interpretation on the validity of the resignation, following the issuing of the second resignation letter.

"I requested the GSO (governance and support officer) in the City of Tshwane to provide me with an external legal opinion on the two resignation letters as mentioned earlier. Yesterday, my office was furnished with a formal legal opinion which confirmed that the initial resignation of executive mayor, which was tendered on February 13 was valid and the resignation took effect on midnight of the same day, and that the amendment of date was unlawful and has no force and effect," Makwarela said.

Makwarela said the consequence of the resignation was that the mayco had been dissolved with effect from February 13 in terms of Section 60(5) of the Municipal Structures Act.

"The scheduled council meeting for Thursday will be postponed, as the focus will now have to shift to convening council meeting to elect a new mayor. The date for the election of the new executive mayor is to be determined by the speaker of council," he said.

The legal opinion means that all decisions taken by the mayoral committee since Williams' resignation may be voided and declared invalid.

Those in the multi-party coalition in Tshwane have been angered by Makwarela's actions following the two resignation letters and was accused of mishandling the whole situation.

The coalition of the DA, ActionSA, Freedom Front Plus, IFP, ACDP and Cope has 108 seats between them in the 214-seat council, and would have enough numbers to pass any council decision even without Cope’s lone ballot.

Meanwhile, the governing coalition was today expected to announce who would be fielded to replace Williams as mayor of the capital city.