Congress of the People (COPE) has expressed shock and disappointment at the “unfortunate developments” regarding Tshwane mayor Murunwa Makwarela.

Days after being elected mayor, COPE member Makwarela was “disqualified” from serving as a city councillor, making him ineligible to serve as mayor.

This stems from his insolvency declaration case dating back to 2016. It is unlawful for an insolvent individual to hold public office.

COPE spokesperson Dennis Bloem said the party was caught by surprise when confronted by media with the news of Makwarela's disqualification.

“As the national leadership we were not aware of this serious violation of the law. In all fairness and honesty, during the filling in of the declaration forms to stand as a candidate to contest the election, Makwarela declared he was sequestrated,” Bloem said.

City manager Johann Mettler’s office served Makwarela with a notice to prove he has been rehabilitated but it is said he failed to provide evidence.

Mettler's office has also written to the IEC in Gauteng, informing it of the vacancy in council arising from Makwarela's disqualification.

Bloem said they were concerned about the matter and would find the truth.

“We are going to investigate this matter to find out how was it possible for Makwarela to slip through the vetting process,” said Bloem. 

“We are also concerned that Makwarela has been a councillor and speaker since November 2021 without any questions raised. Somebody must answer these questions”

COPE's nomination process for public representatives starts at constituency level, where the constituency leader and the constituency secretary of elections submit it to the provincial leadership, where processing and vetting takes place. 

“The process of identifying candidates and knowing their background is the responsibility of the provincial leadership,” he said.

Makwarela said the matter was resolved and he was cleared in 2020. He has vowed to fight the insolvency claims.

He also claimed it is “an old case the DA and FF Plus are bringing up now to score cheap political points”.

“Perhaps they want to teach me a lesson for switching alliances, because they knew about this old case when I was still in their multiparty coalition and it was never an issue. They elected me as speaker of council and it was never a problem. Why did they not raise it when I was with them? They knew.”

Makwarela told TimesLIVE he was applying to have his removal from office interdicted and would let the courts decide.

TimesLIVE