Transcript: 41st Extra-Ordinary Council Meeting

Welcome and register verification

00:00:01Chair of chairs, Councillor Adolph Marema, chairpersons of the various Section 79 committees, leaders and whips of the various political parties represented in council, councillors, leaders of the upper structures of government, uh of the and the of government, there's the secretary to council, Mr Andile Gobinca,

00:00:28officials of the City of Johannesburg, also the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa, members of the public, members of the media, ladies and gentlemen, you are all welcome to the 41st extraordinary council meeting of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, which is meant to elect the speaker of council.

00:00:54Let me also indicate that, uh to councillors to note that there is a routine maintenance conducted by Rand Water, which is affecting the area of Braamfontein. However, we have taken precautionary measures or interim measures in the sense that water tankers are provided, um as well as um

00:01:20mobile toilets and uh potable water. That's for meeting to note. So, before we verify members present, I would like to afford the political party whips 10 minutes to ensure that all members of your respective caucuses have signed the register. 10 minutes for that verification. Thank you.

00:11:55Councillors, may we all be seated?

00:12:15Thank you very much. At this point, I will allow the process to verify the number of councillors present so as to confirm the quorum. Councillors, please take note that uh for that for the purposes of accuracy, we are going to verify the attendance

00:12:44through the register, and we will also go into count the warm bodies in the chamber. Therefore, I'll request all councillors to remain seated to allow the legal advisers to do the counting. I'll afford the legal team, the legal advisers, 5 minutes to do that. Thank you.

00:18:40Honourable councillors, may I kindly request that you be seated so that the counting can proceed without any problem? Otherwise, it's going to cause discrepancies when it comes to the quorum. Please be seated. Thank you so much.

Quorum confirmed

00:25:53Thank you. Thank you, honourable councillors. The legal advisers, the legal advisers have May we have May we have silence, please? The total number of councillors in the City of Johannesburg is 270 for the record. However, there is one ward uh vacancy due to the passing

00:26:26of the late Councillor Buthelezi. May his soul rest in peace. As a result, we currently have 269 councillors, but the quorum remains 50% plus one of the 270 councillors, which is 135 plus one, equaling 136. There are 225 councillors currently in the chamber as verified by the legal team.

00:26:59Councillors, uh as a result, there is a quorum, and the meeting will continue.

Applications for leave of absence

00:27:10Uh councillors, we proceed uh with applications for leave of absence.

00:27:25Uh-oh. Councillor Avant- oh, Councillor Avant-Smith?

00:27:31Thank you very much, um Acting City Manager. I have four: um Councillor Rahn, Councillor Papo, Councillor Schay, and Councillor Williams. Thank you very much.claim

00:27:47Councillor Harris?

00:27:52Good morning, Acting City Manager. Um please accept an LOA for Councillor Mkhonza, who is sick. Thank you.

00:28:08Councillor De Lange?

00:28:12Thank you, Acting City Manager. Um just accept a LOA for Councillor Paul Smit, um Freedom Front Plus. He's out of the province. Thank you.

00:28:24Councillor Mposula?

00:28:30Good morning, Acting Speaker. Uh we have got uh Councillor Mchunu, uh ill health; Councillor Nobuhle Mthembu, late arrival; Councillor Mandla Nyaqela, late arrival; Councillor Lwanda Bini, late arrival. Thank you so much.

00:28:52Councillor Dammie?

00:28:57Good morning, Acting CM. Uh LOAs: um Councillor Morero, the Mayor, out of the country; Councillor Godfrey Tshehlo, sick leave; Councillor Mohau Molefe, out of the province; Councillor Mnisi, late arrival.

00:29:14Thank you. Councillor Mogapi?

00:29:20Thank you. Thank you, Acting Speaker. From the EFF, it's Councillor uh Seerane, out of the province; Councillor Ngwenya, ill health; and Councillor Molefe, ill health. Thank you.

00:29:43Thank you very much. Uh are the apologies uh noted by council? Thank you so much.

Start of Speaker election and ActionSA caucus break

00:29:54We now proceed uh with the election of the speaker of council.

00:30:00in the third item.

00:30:05Thank you, Secretary to Council. Councillors, honorable councillors, please be reminded that council

00:30:17Councillor Mposula, apologies I didn't see you.

00:30:23Thank you so much, acting city manager. Action SA would like to have a 30 minutes caucus break.

00:30:40Granted. We'll reconvene at 11:05. Thank you.

Resumption and Al Jama-ah request for extra caucus time

01:04:13Councillors, may we please settle down. The 30 minutes has expired.

01:04:32May I kindly request Councillor Mposula to report back. Thank you.

01:04:41Thank you so much, Acting City Manager. Um we may proceed. We are good. Thank you so much.

Legal framework for electing the Speaker

01:04:56Thank you very much uh Councillor Mposula. Please uh be reminded, councillors, that the council at its meeting held on the 25th of June 2025 considered and passed a motion of a vote of no confidence against former Speaker of Council, Councillor Nobuhle Mthembu. Therefore, there is a vacancy in the office of the Speaker,

01:05:27and the provisions of Section 36 of the Municipal Structures Act herein referred to as the Act as amended shall apply. Section 36, election of speakers.

01:05:44There's a hand, Chair.

01:05:52Councillor Karolia.

01:05:56Thank you, Speaker. Good morning, Acting Manager. As Al Jama-ah, I just want to request and humbly request that we have a extension of 15 minutes as we haven't concluded our caucus as yet. So, with sincerity, uh I would just and as minorities, I would please agree that if we can just give us another 15 minutes, we'll be appreciative on that.

01:06:24Thank you.

01:06:24Thank you.

01:06:40Councillor Raphadu, you're recognized.

01:06:43Raphadu.

01:06:44Raphadu, thank you very much.

01:06:47SesothoO tla le tlwaela,

01:06:48don't worry. Um Speaker, I think the councillor behind me is out of order. You've already started with the process, so let's continue. Uh if they had anything to say after Councillor Mposula or before you started, I would agree uh with the sentiments, but now we've started the process. Please, can we proceed? There are ward councillors here that are seated here, in their communities they don't have water, so we need to go and attend to other urgent matters. Thank you very much.

01:07:25Thank you. The Section 36 of the Structures Act, the election of speaker, reads as follows: A vacancy in the office of the speaker must be filled when necessary. The municipal manager must preside over the election of a speaker.

01:07:53The procedure set out in Schedule 3 applies to the election of the speaker. Schedule 3 to the Municipal Structures Act, in terms of Schedule 3 to the Act, the person presiding must call for nominations of candidates for the vacant position of the speaker at this meeting.

01:08:18Each nomination must be submitted on the prescribed form and must be signed by two councillors, a nominee as well as a seconder. A person's nomination must indicate acceptance of the nomination by signing the nomination form. Furthermore, councillors' attention is drawn to Item 4 of Schedule 3 to the Act, in terms of which the person presiding at this meeting must announce the names of persons who have been nominated as candidates,

01:08:55but may not permit a debate. In terms of Item 5 of the schedule that I've referred to, that is Schedule 3, if only one candidate has been nominated, the person presiding must declare that candidate as elected. If more than one candidate is nominated and in accordance with Item 6 of the schedule,

01:09:27a vote must be taken at the meeting by secret ballot. Each councillor present at the meeting may cast one vote. The person presiding must declare elected the candidate who receives the majority of the votes. In terms of Item 7 of the schedule, there is an elimination procedure. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes,

01:09:59the candidate who receives the lowest number of votes must be eliminated and further vote taken on the remaining candidates in accordance with Item 6. This procedure must be repeated until a candidate receives the majority of the votes. When applying Sub-item 1, if two or more candidates each have the lowest number of votes, a separate vote must be taken on those candidates and repeated as often as it may be necessary to determine which candidate is to be eliminated.

01:10:42In terms of Item 6, further meetings: If only two candidates are nominated, or if only two candidates remain after an elimination procedure has been applied, those two candidates who receive the same number of votes, oh,

01:11:11candidates who receive the same Let me repeat that item. Let me oh.

Point of personal explanation on water tanker in chamber

01:11:21Councillor Nkosi?

01:11:27Uh thank you, Acting CM. In actual fact, I'm Nguse, not Nkosi. Uh apologies, Acting CM, to interject you. I just want to rise on Rule 73 on a point of personal explanation. Uh Acting CM, we've gathered here, and we have a serious issue in our respective wards where there is no water at all.

01:11:56Surprisingly, we have a water tanker that is just stationed in our council chambers, and where we are, there is no threat to life. We are then appealing to this to these councillors and executives collectively to make an executive decision to release the truck that is stationed in the council chambers and go and serve our people out there.

01:12:26That is our appeal, and we know that there's no threat to life in this council. Elders are suffering out there. [inaudible] making in this council and utilize your executive powers, those who have executive authority [inaudible] idling out there. Thank you uh uh Acting CM.

01:13:04Yeah, I I allowed the councillor because I also thought perhaps it has to do with the technical issues that are impeding on us, you know, having a meeting. I just looked at what the rules are saying, that when the presider is on the floor, so far as this matter is concerned, there shouldn't be any disruption. Let me conclude the process.

01:13:33Let me conclude the process. The In terms of Item 8, further meetings: If only two candidates are nominated, or if only two candidates remain after elimination procedure has been applied, and the two candidates who receive the same number of votes [inaudible] the time determined by the person presiding.

01:14:01In terms of Sub-item 1, the uh the procedure prescribed in this schedule must be applied at that meeting and if it is if if it is where the first meeting of the election in question. The meeting should uh the procedure must be applied at that meeting as if it were the first meeting for the election in question. If at a further meeting held in terms of Sub-item 1 only two candidates are nominated,

01:14:32or if only two candidates remain after the elimination procedure has been applied, and those two candidates receive the same number of votes, the person presiding at such a meeting must determine by lot who of the two candidates will hold the office for which the election has taken place. Councillors, please note that the Independent Electoral Commission, IEC, has been requested to conduct the election, and they have acceded to the request.

IEC explains election procedure and nomination forms are collected

01:15:07I, therefore, request all councillors and relevant officials to cooperate with the IEC in this regard. The meeting will now proceed with the election of the speaker of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in accordance with Schedule 3 to the Act as mentioned earlier. At this point, councillors, I will ask the IEC to take us through the election process.

01:15:45IEC, over to you.

01:15:58Greetings uh to the Acting City Manager, greetings to councillors and everyone in the gallery, including my colleagues uh in our midst. Uh we, as the IEC, we are going to be uh assisting in conducting uh these uh elections uh if ever they materialize. Uh I'm mentioning that, if they materialize,

01:16:26uh because uh there are instances, as you could have heard from the procedures uh as they were being read out, that we may not have an election uh where there is only one nomination. And uh at this point, may I then uh without um um wasting much time uh indicate that um we will start uh with the processes of nominations

01:17:00uh so that uh if ever there are there's no need for an election, we won't have to even explain the procedures. However, allow me to be able to explain the procedure if we do uh find ourselves in a situation where we will have uh an election. May I then, uh with the permission of the presiding officer, um

01:17:31proceed to request colleagues to distribute the nomination forms.

01:17:43Uh may we have uh the political parties raising their hands so that we can have uh colleagues approaching you.

01:22:51May I uh request uh the political parties which uh received the nomination forms just to indicate by show of hands where they are so that we can collect the nomination forms. I see one hand on top there.

01:24:01Uh thank you um very much uh to the political parties. We have now uh received the nomination forms, and I'm going to hand over the nomination forms to the presiding officer at this point.

01:24:43Just Just Just one second. Just Just one second. Um Um I I know we have we have done it the other way round, neh. Innovations sometimes is also allowed, but what we're going to be doing now, we'll turn back again to the IEC just to explain, uh to take us through uh the election process, because there are key things that need to be observed in the process before we get into the next phase. But thanks for the innovation. Over to you, IEC.

01:25:30Okay. No, thank you very much, uh Presiding Officer. Um I should indicate that um I I have indicated that we will uh explain the procedure um where we see that the nominations allow for an election, and then that's what we're going to be doing at this point. Um the we will uh have an election,

01:25:58and the election will be conducted uh through the secret ballot. And access to this area um of the chambers will be restricted to councillors uh from the of the City of Joburg only, and then other stakeholders uh will be requested to be observing uh from the gallery. And then in relation to the identification,

01:26:27um councillors will be requested to present a green barcoded ID, a smart card, or a temporary a valid temporary ID as a form of identification. And then there will also be an observation of the electoral uh process. In this case, uh we are going to request political parties [inaudible] agent uh who to observe on behalf of the party [inaudible]

01:26:57and counting. And then um around the issues of roll call, um as uh it has been indicated, um we are going to be using an updated uh name list of the full names as well as ID numbers of the 269 uh councillors uh in the City of Johannesburg, uh noting that there's one vacancy, a ward vacancy at this point.

01:27:31Uh the voting station will be declared open as soon as the secretary of council starts reading the councillors' names as they appear on the uh voters' roll in alphabetical order. And then uh councillors absent uh today will be indicated uh uh during uh the roll call or have already been indicated. And then party agents will be given preference

01:28:01in relation to voting, so they will vote first. And um the councillors will be called three at a time to cast their ballot, and then we'll be we'll set up a station here in the middle. Um due to the uh Yeah, no, this issue of the by-elections will not apply at this point.

01:28:30And then the councillors will be marked off the voters' roll once they have voted, and we will also use the ink, indelible ink, to mark uh the thumb. Councillors uh that are present and are not feeling well um and wish to vote must inform the presiding officer so that a special arrangement will be made

01:29:00to accommodate uh them um through special votes. And then uh this will also apply to those um uh councillors who, for religious reasons, uh wish to be given preference. And then ballot papers will be printed um once um

01:29:30the nominations have been confirmed uh by the presiding officer. And uh in relation to the number, uh we'll be printing uh 274 ballot papers, um allowing for five additional uh ballot papers. And this will be um confirmed with the party agents. And then the ballot paper will have

01:30:00have the names of the candidates printed and not eh photos. Eh ballot will be issued after the councillor's name has been marked off the voter's roll. And in relation to marking eh of the ballot, after receiving the ballot paper, eh the voter must proceed to the voting booth to cast his or her vote. And the marked ballot

01:30:29once to ensure secrecy of that mark before counting. And then, casting of vote. Eh the voter must cast his or her vote by putting it in the ballot box. And then, the councillor must eh proceed back to their seat. And then after voting, after the last councillor has voted, the voting station will be closed.

01:30:59And then, counting will commence immediately eh after close of the voting station. Then after, eh the ballot boxes will be opened in the presence of all party agents. All ballots will be reconciled and verified. And then eh after being sorted, as well as counted eh according to the candidates,

01:31:30the results slip to be completed must be completed and signed by the party agents as well. And then eh results will be handed to the presiding officer for announcement to council. Thank you.

Nominations announced, with a second water tanker intervention

01:31:52Thank you very much IEC for taking us for taking us through the uhm election process. At this stage let me indicate that eh I have received three nominations from the following political parties: Democratic Alliance, UIM and ATM.

01:32:21This form received are in order as it complies with eh having a proposer, a seconder and a nominee. Furthermore, the forms have the required signature. Can I now request that the proposer rise to read the nomination, the sec the seconders to confirm?

01:32:51SesothoNna mara ke a proceed'a?

01:32:56Eh Councillor Modupi.

01:33:02Thank you very much eh Acting City Manager. I wanted to stand on rule number 73, to say there was a motion which was put by one councillor in this house to say there is a water tanker stationed right in our precinct

01:33:31when there are people outside there who do not have water. And we also have got the bottles of water in front of ourselves. We do have fiduciary duty to serve our people. We should not be so cold that we do not think of our people outside there. Councillors are under attack every time because of lack of services. We are saying that water tanker should be going out to the eh residents so that they can have water. Thank you.

01:34:04Thank Thank you very much. Thank you very much, eh honourable councillors. I I received information whilst the IEC was busy, and eh indeed I was supposed to give feedback because when it was raised, the administration, through the leadership of the Acting Mayor, we received a feed feedback that the Johannesburg Water is adding two additional

01:34:34water tankers per ward. That is the information that we have received, so the matter has been attended. I'll proceed. I'll proceed. I'll proceed from where? I'll start from the beginning so that the process of election is not contaminated. I'll start from the beginning. I have Honourable councillors, I have received three nominations from the following political parties: the Democratic Alliance,

01:35:03UIM, and ATM. The forms that we received are in order as they are complying eh with all the requirements of having a proposer, a seconder, as well as a nominee. Further to that, the forms have the required signatures. Can I now then request that the proposer rise to read the nomination, the seconder to confirm, and lastly the nominees to confirm acceptance respectively.

01:35:33We'll start with the Democratic Alliance and then followed by eh UIM and then lastly by the ATM, in that order. Thank you so much.

Nominations read and accepted

01:35:56Councillor Sifumba.

01:36:01Thank you, Acting City Manager. I, Councillor Nonhlanhla Sifumba, hereby nominate Councillor Alex Christians as the Speaker of the City of Johannesburg. Thank you.

01:36:18Never.

01:36:22Too ambitious, huh?

01:36:25Alright, thank you. Let's proceed to the seconder and then we'll go to the nominee.

01:36:40Good morning, Acting City Manager. I, Annette Deppe, second the nomination for Alex Christians. Thank you very much.

01:36:58The nominated candidate, over to you.

01:37:05Thank you, Acting City Manager. I, Alex Christians, hereby accept nomination for the position of Speaker.

01:37:17And now we'll move to the second political party, that's UIM. Councillor Abdool.

01:37:27Good morning, City Manager and all colleagues. I, Fatima Roshniibi Abdool, hereby nominate Margaret Sharon Arnolds to Speaker of the City of Johannesburg. Thank you.

01:37:43Thank you. Let's now move to the seconder to also second that.

01:37:51Thank you very much, Acting City Manager. Good morning to everybody. I, Councillor Themba Mhlongo, hereby second the nomination of Councillor Margaret Arnolds to be the Speaker of the City of Johannesburg council. Thank you.

01:38:09Thank you, councillor. Let's now move to Councillor Margaret Arnolds to check whether there's acceptance.

01:38:16Good morning, Acting Speaker and all councillors in the chamber. I, Margaret Sharon Arnolds, do humbly accept the nomination. I thank you.

01:38:28Yes my girl. Yes my girl.

01:38:32Thank you. Now we'll move to the last political party to make a nomination, that is ATM, Councillor Magwentshu.

01:38:45I, Councillor Lubabalo Magwentshu, hereby nominate Councillor Yongama Zigebe for the position of Speaker of the City of Johannesburg.

01:38:59Noted. Thank you. We'll now move to the seconder.

01:39:22Thank you, CM. I, Yakub Karolia, hereby nominate Yongama Zigebe, second. We second it. I second it. Thank you.

01:39:37Thank you. Let's now move to the nominated candidate to indicate acceptance or otherwise. Councillor Zigebe.

01:39:47isiZuluZiyakhala ke.

01:39:50I, Yongama Zigebe, am I protected Chair?

01:39:58Highly protected.

01:39:59Thank you. I, Yongama Zigebe, the supper singer, win or lose, accepts the nomination.

Break for printing of ballot papers

01:40:08Thank you very much. Now we are moving to the next phase. At this point, I will grant 30 minutes to the IEC to print the ballot papers. So we'll break for 30 minutes for that. Thank you so much.

01:40:3512:15. We'll reconvene at 12:15. Thank you.

Item 1: Section 71 MFMA report, quarter ended 31 December 2021 (MMC presentation)

02:00:00I take it that that's the position. Thank you so much. [no speech] So we are now proceeding with items on our agenda. We start with items due for action, item one on page one. That is the report on section 71 of the MFMA, financial report for the second quarter ended 31 December 2021. Can I invite the MMC to present the report?

02:00:31Thank you, Madam Speaker. Let me greet you and let me greet our Executive Mayor, Councillor Mpho Phalatse, my fellow MMCs, Leaders of Political Parties, Chief Whip of Council, Chair of Chairs, Councillors, City Manager, Group CFO, COO, Executive Directors, Managing Directors and CEOs of Entities, the Media, Residents of the City of Johannesburg, good afternoon, goeie middag, molweni, sanibonani, dumelang,

02:00:59TshivendaNdi masiari.

02:01:00XitsongaInkomu.

02:01:02Namaste. As-salamu alaykum. Shalom. Madam Speaker, through you, thank you for the opportunity to table item one on the council agenda, the section 71 and section 52D financial report for the second quarter ended 31 December 2021. The purpose of the report is to comply with section 71 and 52D of the Municipal Finance Management Act, MFMA, read together with the Municipal Budget and Reporting Regulations of 2009.

02:01:31Providing the financial position for the City of Johannesburg for December 2021 and quarter two of the financial year 2021-2022. This report presents cumulative financial results for the period 1st of July 2021 to December 31 2021. The highlights of the operating results as at December 2021. We reflect a year to date operating surplus before capital transfers of R1.2 billion against a budget surplus of R2.6 billion resulting

02:02:01in an unfavorable variance of R1.4 billion. Revenue shows an unfavorable variance of about R210 million, mostly underscored by R259 million billed by JRA for reinstatement optimization projects that have not been fully realized, R255 million interest targeted by Core for overdrawn bank accounts, and R210 million for traffic fines.

02:02:27Operating expenditure is R1.2 billion over budget, mainly due to City Power's purchase of bulk electricity by R1.7 billion, followed by R215 million for employee costs at Core, and R218 million for other expenditure at Joburg Water. The high bulk electricity purchase is mainly due to Eskom billing inaccuracies, non-technical losses of illicit connections, meter tampering,

02:02:57and high levels of loadshedding. Employee-related costs are mainly due to the SALGA wage increase which was not budgeted for on the original budget. Other expenditures in Joburg Water is due to the higher utilization of water tankers in the persistent water crisis in the city as well as general fleet cost. Capital expenditure as at December 2021 was 30% of our R8.2 billion budget and we note a regress from last year's comparative

02:03:26expenditure of 40%. Contributing factors here could be attributed to the election period overlapping into Q2. At December 2021, our cash balances is R2.9 billion. Total borrowing was at R19.6 billion excluding regions, which is about 71% of the original budget. Investments were R977 million excluding sinking fund and unpaid conditional grants of R246 million, giving us a net cash deficit balance of R236 million.

02:03:57Total debtors amounts to R39 billion. Debt collection sits at an average of 87.3 against the target of about 90.4%. Core department owes suppliers about R766 million for December 2021 of which R380 million have exceeded 30 days. Our UIFW expenditure recorded for the quarter ending December 2021 is fruitless and wasteful R246,000, irregular expenditure about R166 million,

02:04:27unauthorized expenditure zero. Going forward, the Section 71 and 52 report is crucial for the Finance Department to monitor to gauge how different departments and entities are performing against target sets through the budgeting process and SDBIP. Now into the final quarter of the financial year, our adjustment budget process sets the framework towards realistic targets and financial prudent strategies to guide service delivery objectives within our financial grip.

02:04:56I submit this report under Item 1 with recommendations on pages 1.3 for noting. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Item 1 debate: DA

02:05:06Thank you so much, MMC. Let me now open the floor. First on the list is the DA. Who's speaking for the DA?

02:05:14Thank you, Madam Speaker. It's Councillor Chris Santana.

02:05:17Over to you, Councillor Santana. You have 6 minutes.

02:05:22Thank you so much, Madam Speaker. Let me greet the Executive Mayor, Councillor Mpho Phalatse, Chief Whip of Council, Chair of Chairs, Leader of Executive Business, Leaders of various Political Parties, fellow Councillors and Officials of the City, Members of the Media and of course the Residents of Johannesburg, a very good afternoon to you all. Now typically in the past, whenever it was time to debate the Section 71 financial reports, there was a narrative pushed around the financials of the city,

02:05:51depicting everything as stable, healthy and under control. All of course with flowery language. However, as all in council now know, the reality on the ground and the decaying infrastructure paint a starkly different picture and we saw this during the oversight visits. This Section 71 report under consideration spans from October to December 2021 and the bulk of this period was before the multi-party government took over at the end of December 2021.claim

02:06:19So really this report still bears the traits of the previous administration where poor collection, unrestrained expenditure, the non-payment of creditors within 30 days as prescribed by the MFMA, as well as sluggish capital expenditure are features. There has been poor financial discipline and consequence management across all departments and entities as the report shows that we are sitting with R166 million in irregular expenditure as well as R246,000 in fruitless and wasteful expenditure.claim

02:06:50So what does it actually mean when the MMC mentions to council that the city's operating budget reflects a deficit of R1.4 billion? In effect, we've got to understand it as meaning the city has under-collected revenue by R210 million while it has simultaneously overspent by R1.2 billion. This already puts the city onto the back foot financially. It shows the city is operating in the red and puts it at risk of not meeting its obligations, which includes the rendering of servicesclaim

02:07:20and maintenance of infrastructure. While the overall revenue variance is negative two percent, if we delve deeper there exists concerning areas which require interventions in the short to medium term. These are, among others, service charges for electricity and water are negative four percent and two percent, totaling 363 million and 140 million rounds respectively. Fines, penalties and forfeits are down minus 73 percent and other revenue is negative 26 percent. And when it gets to expenditure, employee-related costs are four percent over budget, equating to around R335 million. Now bulk purchases are overrun by two percent, equating to negative 1.49 billion and other expenditure is currently overrun by three percent, which is R118 million. Most concerningclaim

02:08:11of course here are the bulk electricity purchases overrun by 16 percent or R1.7 billion at City Power. The status quo needs urgent attention from all relevant stakeholders inside and outside the city to ensure the financial viability of the entity and by extension the city. However, what also must receive constant attention is the collection rates across the board. Total debtors currently stand at R39.1 billion and over 34 billion of this sits over the 90 days. During the second quarter, the city only averaged an 87 percent collection rate against the target of 90.4 percent. Crucially, the collection rates for electricity and water are below par at 87 and 76 percent respectively. This does not bode well for the city's cash flows as the city relies heavily on its tariff charges and property rates to fund its operations. The cumulative effect here is an operating deficit due to under-collection and unrestrained expenditure. Low cash coverage which makes it difficult to service commitments including debt and suppliers for services rendered, which currently sit at only 39 percent compliance with the 30 days as prescribed by the MFMA. Additionally, we see a regression in the CAPEX spending with only 30 percent spent against the 40 percent achieved in the previous financial year for the same period. It goes without saying, Madam Speaker, that we note the interventions contained within the report which are being implemented in the current third quarter to turn the situation around where the multi-party government has the opportunity to action them decisively and ensure that there is value for money extract on behalf of the residents of the city, to ensure the financial health of the city is improved moving forward, as well as to ensure that residents experience improved service delivery. The Democratic Alliance notes this report. Thank you, Madam Speaker.claim

Item 1 debate: ANC

02:10:09Thank you so much. Next on the list is the ANC, who's speaking for the ANC?

02:10:15Thank you, Speaker. It will be Councillor Dada Morero.

02:10:21Councillor Morero, you have four minutes.

02:10:25Thank you, Madam Speaker. Good afternoon to fellow councillors. Maybe to borrow from the words of Councillor Santana, when he speak about flowery language whenever this Section 71 report is presented, obviously it reminds me of last month's council meeting where the Executive Mayor, in a flowery language, tried to paint a very bleak financial position of the city without facts, unfortunately, and made the residents of Joburg to believe that in part, the city is going down, which was incorrect. Let me get to the point here. Today we must commend the MMC for Finance for presenting the Section 71 and 52 Quarter 2 Performance Report, which confirms the sound financial management and stability in the finances of our city under the previous administration of the Government of Local Unity. Now on key issues that relate to this report, the African National Congress makes the following analysis and observation of the financial performance based on the report tabled before us here today. The City of Johannesburg audit status has changed from unqualified opinion with findings from 2016/17 financial year to a regression of six qualifications in the 2017/18 financial year under Mayor Herman Mashaba. When the ANC took over, these six qualifications were addressed by our administration in the financial year 2019 and 2020 and 2020/21, meaning that the ANC administration obtained an unqualified audit opinion for the year ended 30 June 2020 and the year ended 30 June 2021. The Auditor General audit has revealed that in the past two consecutive financial years, there has been a vast improvement in governance, internal control and risk controls which our government put in place.claim

02:12:41The City of Joburg financial environment is volatile and complex as we all agree, especially in light of the impact of COVID-19 and requires bold leadership with strong financial discipline which our ANC-led Government of Local Unity provided during very difficult times of COVID-19. In December 2020, the city had a healthy cash balance of 5.2 billion, June 2021, 6.6 billion and as we left the office at the end of October 2021, the city cash balances was over 3.2 billion. During our first 100 days in office between December 2019 and February 2020, our revenue collection outperformed target after we averaged 93.3% against the budget target of 91.7%. In January 2020, monthly collection was R3.6 billion, surpassing the monthly target of 3.2 billion. Our interventions pushed the city closer to a desired target of collecting revenue of a minimum baseline of R1 billion per week without fail since December 2019 before COVID-19 pandemic struck. Currently under the DA-led coalition, the revenue collection is dropping from the report from 89.2% in October and to 83.8% in November 2021. Your liquidity ratio... Let me conclude, Speaker, we note the report and encourage the current executive to tighten controls on expenditure management to ensure we close the end of the financial year on a positive surplus balance and improve CAPEX expenditure which was seating at an unacceptable 30% during the period under review. I thank you, Madam Speaker.claim

Item 1 debate: EFF

02:14:35Thank you, Councillor Morero. Next is EFF. Who's speaking for EFF?

02:14:43CouncillorSephora.

02:14:45Over to you, Councillor Sephora. You have three minutes.

02:14:52Okay. Thank you, Speaker. The Section 71 financial report is giving us a bleak message that all is not well in the City of Joburg regarding its financial status. One of the worrying factor is the issue of a bulk electricity purchase by City Power, which is R1.7 billion over budget. We think that if proper planning can be exercised within the utility, the bulk purchase cost can decrease significantly. First, we have areas of high density where many households have connections which does not pay for electricity they consume.claim

02:15:40Look into Diepsloot, reception area, Cosmo City Extension 2, Kya Sands informal settlement, Zandspruit, Soweto and orange farm, to mention the few. This contributes to over R1.7 billion over expenditure which is labeled as illegal connections, meter tampering, Eskom inaccurate billing and so on. It is not the responsibility of the utility to prevent illegal connections and meter tampering? That is why the EFF has suggested that poor households must be subsidized on the electricity cost and a flat rate must be introduced so that all citizens can be able to pay for the electricity they use according to their affordability. Another factor that creates the utility to lose money, even though it was not mentioned on the report, is the smart metering contract that is dodgy. And we call upon the MMC of EISD and Finance to urgently investigate the contract in this regard so that all irregularities can be curbed as the entity has incurred irregular expenditure of about R166 million for the quarter ending December 2021. Remember that in the last financial year, City Power contributed R1.2 billion in irregular expenditure to the city's total irregular expenditure of about R6.2 billion as reported by the Auditor-General, not by Dada Morero. Why it can't be prevented? Look at Pikitup which is spending millions paying comparison trucks on lease every month whether they work or not, and JRA which pays millions of rands on ghost fleet contract also. We challenge the current administration that the issue of insourcing of critical services must not be treated selectively so as to save the city's finances and redirect the resources where it matters the most, which is service delivery. The EFF notes the report on Section 71 and edge the executive to step up their game when it comes to sound financial management to take the city to a financially sound environment. I thank you, Speaker.claim

Item 1 debate: ActionSA

02:18:19Thank you, Councilor Sephora. Next on the list is ActionSA. Who's speaking for ActionSA?

02:18:27ActionSA. Thank you, Madam Speaker. It will be Marcel Coutriers.

02:18:32Thank you, Councilor Coutriers. You have three minutes.

02:18:36Thank you, Madam Speaker. So when assessing the consolidated dynamic performance of the city and its key performance indicators on its core mandate of service delivery to the residents and other stakeholders within its municipal boundary over the period reported here, a bleak reality check must dawn onto all public builders of office.

02:19:01As custodians of the purse of this economic hub of not just our province and country, possibly the continent, we are simply dropping the ball on delivering value in our core purpose, basic municipal services. Analyzing the core elements of expenditure and income in parallel is essential for sustainable going concern. Yet at half financial year mark, overall key indicators are all down from budget projections which clearly highlights lack of sound governance. Total debtors at quarter two shows at R39.1 billion while R210 million less revenue was collected than planned and only R3.3 billion are available in our coffers and over R166 million flagged as irregular expenditure shows mismanagement and lack of fiscal prudence and governance. More concerning are clear runaway expenditure figures against budget paired with failure of revenue collection at City Power, Joburg Water and Pikitup. Core delivery entities that touch the everyday lives of the citizenry in our metropolis and the business sector critical for our economic output and growth metrics to drive much needed socio-economic upliftment across all regions. While quarter two metrics overlaps the past and present government following November local government elections, one must point toward a glaring failure in revenue enhancement and collection across many of these entities. We acknowledge the multi-party government inherited the systematic governance decays of many years in just two months into its tenure and it is simply not viable to expect a complete turnaround of this mammoth vessel into calmer governance trajectories within such time constraint. We implore the MMC to work closely with every portfolio counterpart of all the departments and entities that present an adverse variance in their line adjustment and apply sound accounting practice going forward as captured in point six of the recommendations to ensure prudent expenditure management to ensure the financial year closes in a positive surplus balance. ActionSA notes and supports the report with all its recommendations. Thank you, Madam Speaker.claim

Item 1 debate: IFP

02:21:30Thank you, Councilor. Next is Patriotic Alliance, who's speaking? Patriotic Alliance? IFP?

02:21:44Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is Councilor M الاستاذ...

02:21:47Over to you, Councilor. You have two minutes.

02:21:49Thank you so much. We note the report as the IFP under Section 71 and 52D of the Municipal Finance Management Act, Read together with the Municipal Budget and Reporting Regulations of 2009. We are hoping, Madam Speaker, with time and stability under this government, many things will stabilize to allow more spending on all departments in comparison with the 2021-2022 second quarter as we look on the third quarter right now, on which we believe this government will perform very well given the fact that we are already passed the municipal election of 2021. We also would love to caution and say, maybe if the executive, through you, Madam Speaker, can look at the unauthorized, irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure that is coming up, we can save more money as this city to give proper services to our people on the ground, mostly on the informal settlements, standard hostels and townships across the city of Johannesburg as the IFP will support the report. Thank you so much.

Item 1 debate: Freedom Front Plus

02:23:05Thank you so much, Councilor. Freedom Front Plus?

02:23:12AfrikaansDankie, Mevrou die Speaker. En ons groet u in 'n bewolkte en reënerige Johannesburg waar alles wel is.

02:23:20We've worked carefully through this report. From the report, everything looks normal, above ground, well, fine. We are doing the right job.

02:23:32AfrikaansHierdie verslag moet saamgelees word met die verslag wat nou-nou voor ons gaan dien ten opsigte van die aanpassing van die begroting. Want in hierdie verslag besef jy op watter afgrond Johannesburg afstuur. Aan die een kant oorbestee ons met 1,2 biljoen Rand of miljard Rand en aan die ander kant vorder ons te min in en ons is in die rooi op 39,1 miljard Rand waar die inwoners van Johannesburg agterstallig is met hulle betalings. 'n Verdere bron tot kommer is die onderbesteding op die kapitaalbegroting. Die agbare raadslid Morero van die ANC verwys sopas vantevore hoe mooi dit onder hulle gegaan het, maar die feit dat slegs 30% van die begroting spandeer is op die kapitaalprojekte wat die infrastruktuur van die stad moet herstel wat besig is om uitmekaar uit te val, en daar is net 30% tot dusver daarvan spandeer, is die direkte gevolg van die COVID-19 ramptoestand waaronder die ANC regering ons geplaas het en waaronder hy te bang is om ons nou uit te haal dat hierdie land sy ekonomiese ratte kan optel en vorentoe kan gaan. Ek ondersteun namens die Vryheidsfront Plus die aanbevelings op bladsy 1.3 met die hoop en vertroue dat die huidige regering daadwerklik aandag sal skenk aan die verval van ons stad in verskeie gebiede in terme van verouderde infrastruktuur van elektrisiteit soos substasies wat ontplof, waterpype wat bars en nie vervang word nie en slaggate wat nie herstel word nie. Die Vryheidsfront Plus ondersteun die voorstelle hierin. Dankie, Mevrou die Speaker.

Item 1 debate: AIC

02:25:14Thank you, Councilor. ACDP? [no speech] AIC?

02:25:25Thank you, Madam Speaker, it will be Margaret Arnolds.

02:25:29Over to you, Councilor Arnolds. You have two minutes.

02:25:34Thank you, Madam Speaker. Let me greet all councilors on the platform and the officials of the City of Johannesburg, also the community at large. Madam Speaker, first of all, we want to commend the GLU under the leadership of the ANC for the sterling work they did up until October the 31st before elections. As we can read in the report here, Madam Speaker, City Power overspending with 1.7 billion Rands for bulk electricity purchases. Yet we find all over the city transformers that's exploded since three months back without being fixed, but they are purchasing bulk electricity. Secondly, Madam Speaker, employee-related costs are mainly due to the SALGA wage increase, which was not budgeted on the original budget. Madam Speaker, are we still employing level twos and level threes without budgeting for them? We are currently sitting here with critical vacancies, yet we can see strategic advisors at level two posts are being advertised and interviewed here in the City of Johannesburg. Madam Speaker, coming back to the 218 million for other expenditure at Joburg Water due to the utilization of water tankers. We know since elections in November, all the trucks of Joburg Water were pulled out of the informal settlements and currently being placed in the northern suburbs where there are water cuts. It took Joburg Water two weeks to restore water at the Helen Joseph Hospital and the Rahima Moosa Hospital due to the fact that there is only one contractor and when the generator failed because of City Power's incompetence, Joburg Water couldn't pump water into these reservoirs. What does this tell us, Madam Speaker? This tells us that this multi-party government is busy failing the City of Joburg. Within a month of them taking over, they've already wasted 1.7 billion Rand on electricity...claim

02:27:49Kindly wrap up, Councilor Arnolds, your time is up.claim

02:27:52Thank you, Madam Speaker. We must also note here that we are sitting with R166 million of irregular expenditure, meaning that it has increased since the DA took over, over and above the 5 billion we got from Mashaba. Thank you, Madam Speaker. We note the report.

Item 1 debate: Al Jama-ah

02:28:11Next is Al Jama-ah. Good?

02:28:20Thank you, Madam Speaker, Councilor Tshepo.

02:28:24Over to you, Councilor Tshepo. You have one minute.

02:28:28Thank you, Madam Speaker. Good day to yourself, fellow councilors, the Mayor, the MMCs and the people of Johannesburg. Look, I was listening carefully as everyone was speaking and what has become clear is it is so sad when the elephants fight because it means the grass suffers and currently the residents of Johannesburg are the ones that are suffering while we point fingers at each other for who did what when. And I also believe that it is unfair of us to hold the current administration accountable for something that has happened previously when they were not in power, because this report covers the period of which they had just come in. Look, we welcome the report and we note the report, especially item six in the recommendations that accounting officers must ensure that measures are put in place to curb this overspending. We had the opportunity to do oversight visits and we picked up a whole lot of discrepancies where the entities were spending so much money unnecessarily because they don't communicate with each other. There's JRA and Joburg Water. If that can be dealt with, then we will see that the city will save a lot of money so that the people of Johannesburg can actually get the services they deserve. And what also is interesting for me is while City Power has spent so much money over budget, yet the people of Johannesburg do not have electricity as we speak right now in Roodepoort, people don't have electricity, Roodepoort, the whole of Region C, there's constant blackouts and all those kind of things. So that means then the current administration needs to up its game into ensuring that they fix the wrongs of the past and stop pointing fingers, because when you have been voted into power and been put into a position to lead, you should stop pointing fingers backwards, move forward and fix what is broken, fix it so that the people can get what they deserve. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Good notes the report. Thank you.

02:30:00Thank you, Councilor.!]

Party agents nominated for the Speaker election

02:35:31Thank you, thank you honourable councillors. Thank you, I see. At this point in time, I would like to call upon political parties to nominate or confirm their party agents who will be monitoring the process of voting and and and. So I will start from my left and then I'll go to my right.

02:36:00Uh Councillor Avant-Smith?

02:36:18Oh, okay, so you've nominated? All right, sorted. It's sorted from the DA, it's sorted, and then now I'll move to the uh Arnolds?

02:36:56Noted, Councillor Mhlongo. Councillor Dammie?

02:37:03Thank you, Chair. The ANC is nominating Councillor Raphadu to be a party agent.

02:37:10Noted. Councillor Makhuba, IFP?

02:37:18Thank you, Acting Speaker. The IFP is nominating Councillor Nyembe as the party agent. Thank you.

02:37:27Thank you. Councillor Simonse from PA?

02:37:32Good afternoon, Acting Chair. I'm Councillor Pitso. Kabelo Pitso will be for the Patriotic Alliance. Thank you.

02:37:40Councillor Mogapi, you are recognised.

02:37:45Thank you, Acting CM. From the EFF, it's Councillor Ntoele.

02:37:51Thanks, Councillor Mogapi. And then, I don't see any hands.

Voting process opened and requests for early votes

02:38:25All right. Okay. So, we done and dusted. If there are no further parties that are making nominations, so I'll move to the next phase of our process. Just for the record, the IEC has printed the ballot papers and therefore the voting process will commence. I will now ask the Secretary to Council to call councillors' names

02:38:55as appearing in the voters' roll to start the voting process. Councillor Dammie?

02:39:09Thank you, Acting CM. Um I'm requesting for Councillor Phindile Simelane and Mnyameni due to ill health to vote first then they can leave. Thank you.

02:39:23Just perhaps repeat the names then.

02:39:28Councillor Phindile Simelane and Councillor Mongameli Mnyameni.

02:39:35Noted, thank you. Any other similar requests perhaps before we give over to the Secretary to Council? Honourable Councillor?

02:39:53Thank you, CM. Just for myself as well, if I can just vote first with the first bunch, please.

02:40:29Councillor Avant-Smith, may you kindly just for the record read the name, yeah, Councillor, because we couldn't pick that up.

02:40:37Thank you. I put in three names with the Secretary to Council. It is Councillor Fourie-Shawe, Councillor Bongi Nkomo, and there's one other, Councillor Reddy. Thank you.

02:40:51Thank you very much for that. All right, now we are handing over to the Secretary to Council to call councillors' names as they appear in the voters' roll to start the voting process, having noted all the requests that have been placed before Council. Thank you.

02:41:17Uh Councillors, we will start off with the party reps um to start with the voting. I would like to call uh Councillor Avant-Smith.

02:41:32There's a hand, I think it's Councillor Amad.

02:41:36Thank you, Acting Speaker. I nominate Councillor Magwentshu to represent the minorities. Thank you.

02:41:46As the party agent? Noted, thank you.

02:41:54Right, we proceed with Councillor Mhlongo, Councillor Raphadu, Councillor Nyembe, Councillor Pitso, Councillor Ntoele, and Councillor Magwentshu.

02:48:03Testing, one, two.

IEC explains voting procedure

02:48:49Thank you. Um we'll now give IEC once more the opportunity just to explain some procedural matters in so far as how the elections and the party agents are going to execute their tasks.

02:49:27Uh thank you very much, Acting City Manager. Um just to explain some few procedural matters in relation to the manner in which the voting is going to unfold. Um for the sake of completeness, as you can see the setup we have here, first of all, um we are going to be using that passage as the entry points for all the

02:49:57the councillors as they are coming in to vote, and then the exits will be both on my left and right. These are the exit points here. And then again, in relation to the positioning of the party agents, we understand that we have several parties which are observing over and above those which are contesting, and that is welcome. However, we just want to caution that the positions which we are going to take should not

02:50:27interfere with the secrecy of the ballot. And then again, we are going to observe the aspect of the special votes being I think then that case will be led by the Secretary in terms of how that is going to unfold as we understand there's already been applications. And I think with that, that should be

02:50:57sufficient at this point for the sake of order within the chamber.

Special votes

02:51:17Councillors, we're starting off with special votes, and the first councillor is Councillor Jainoodeen, followed by Councillor Johnson, Councillor Fourie-Shawe,

02:51:47Councillor Reddy, Councillor Nkomo,

02:52:26And Councillor Simelane.

02:53:33Thank you again. As voting is proceeding, um I just want to make an announcement that we have got Councillor Jainoodeen, I think I'm that should be the correct surname, whom we'll be allowing to vote just at the back there in the wheelchair.

02:54:08Can we also have Councillor Mnyameni?

Roll call voting by party

02:56:16Now we will call in all other councillors, and I will be calling them as per party, starting off with ActionSA. Can we have Councillor Wissler, Councillor Masoga, Councillor Mokoka,

02:56:47Councillor Lebatlang, Councillor Mchunu, Councillor Coverdale, Councillor Edward,

02:57:23Councillor Coutriers, Councillor Van Wyk, Councillor Mohlala, oh sorry, Councillor Prince Mohlala, Councillor Munyayi, Councillor Modukanene,

02:58:05Councillor Zwane, Councillor Shumba, Councillor Nefdt, Councillor Ntshidi,

02:58:44Councillor Liebenberg, Councillor Mposula,

02:59:16Councillor Bini, Councillor Durand,

03:01:28Councillor Mthembu.

03:01:33Councillor Ntombela.

03:01:50Councillor Mabelebele.

03:01:58Councillor Mabunda.

03:02:07Councillor Mkhonto.

03:02:16Councillor Moatshe.

03:02:23Councillor Mashala.

03:02:33Councillor Mohlala.

03:02:40Councillor Atterbury.

03:02:47Councillor Rakosa.

03:02:55Councillor Matabane.

03:03:02Councillor Ngwetsheni.

03:03:10Is it Chuma or Xuma?

03:03:14There's H in the surname. It's Chuma.

03:03:25Councillor Chuma.

03:03:34Councillor Nkonyeni.

03:03:45Councillor Sehoai.

03:03:54Councillor Aphane.

03:04:03Councillor Nyaqela.

03:04:19Councillor Hlengiwe Masuku.

03:04:29Councillor Sondag.

03:04:36Councillor Moshapo.

03:04:43Councillor Xulu.

03:05:23Now proceeding to the next party. We have Councillor Harris.

03:06:04Councillor Rohlssen.

03:06:09Councillor Mpolobosho.

03:07:51Councillor Arnolds.

03:07:55Councillor Mhlongo.

03:08:09Councillor Masuku.

03:08:11Loyiso Masuku.

03:08:15Councillor Mgcina.

03:08:21Councillor Mnisi.

03:08:38Councillor Mazibukwana.

03:08:43Councillor Ramafikeng.

03:08:51Councillor Mokoari.

03:08:59Councillor C. Molefe.

03:09:05Councillor Ndzondo.

03:09:11Councillor Phometsi.

03:09:20Councillor Lebea.

03:09:28Councillor Nofemela.

03:09:36Councillor Mulelu.

03:09:42Councillor Moeti.

03:09:49Councillor Magwaza.

03:09:58Councillor Mokoena.

03:10:05Councillor Ngema.

03:10:22Councillor Mathe.

03:10:29And Councillor Simelane.

03:10:33Let me quickly go to the bathroom.

03:10:36There's no water.

03:11:00I couldn't sit down.

03:13:40Councillor Mmota.

03:14:00Councillor Khomongoe.

03:14:04Councillor Mabuza.

03:14:09Councillor Kwapeng.

03:14:15Councillor Mashinini.

03:14:24Councillor Tshehlo.

03:14:28Councillor Ndou.

03:14:34Councillor Dammie.

03:14:44Councillor Molefe.

03:14:53Councillor Dlamini.

03:14:58Councillor Mazibuko.

03:15:04Councillor Lefutso.

03:15:11Councillor Tsotetsi.

03:15:17Councillor Mofokeng.

03:15:25Councillor Chetsanga.

03:15:33Councillor Simelane, Phindile.

03:15:41Councillor Molise.

03:15:50Councillor Madiba.

03:16:07Councillor Xuma.

03:16:19Councillor Nkubungu.

03:16:25Councillor Tambani.

03:16:31Councillor Tefu.

03:16:38Councillor Zazini.

03:16:54Councillor Modladlaba.

03:17:01Councillor Mhlari.

03:17:19Councillor Mpotulo.

03:17:25Councillor Bolani.

03:17:31Councillor Mgaga.

03:17:38Councillor Mngadi.

03:17:46Councillor Radebe.

03:17:56Mutavhatsindi, ne?

03:17:58Yeah, Mutavhatsindi.

03:18:14Councillor Mutavhatsindi.

03:18:18Councillor Nair.

03:18:24Councillor Hlatshwayo.

03:18:31Councillor Nguse.

03:18:39Councillor Nyembe.

03:18:52Councillor Khumalo.

03:18:59Councillor Sekwaila.

03:19:21Councillor Modupi.

03:19:27Councillor Lobi.

03:20:25Councillor Mavhona.

03:20:29Councillor Mothopi.

03:20:36Councillor Twala.

03:20:43Councillor Makamo.

03:20:50Councillor Maluleka.

03:20:57Councillor Hlatshwayo.

03:21:04Councillor Ngoepe.

03:21:24Councillor Maake.

03:21:29Councillor Maswazi.

03:21:34Councillor Ndou.

03:21:44Councillor Ngwenya.

03:21:54Councillor Floyd Ngwenya.

03:22:04Councillor Francisco.

03:22:10Councillor Mphaho.

03:22:19Councillor Supe.

03:22:45Councillor Mabuke.

03:22:51Councillor Mangena.

03:23:03Councillor Marema.

03:23:47Councillor Zondo.

03:23:51Councillor Nzimande.

03:23:57Councillor Chauke.

03:24:06Councillor Zungu.

03:24:36Councillor Mmbengwa.

03:24:51Councillor Tabane.

03:25:01Councillor Galeshewe.

03:25:08Councillor Shange.

03:25:59Councillor Buthelezi.

03:26:06Councillor Ndlela.

03:26:16Should have asked the councillors in the first place.

03:26:36Councillor Ndlela.

03:26:41Councillor Marumo.

03:27:41Councillor Sindani.

03:27:45Councillor Mokwena.

03:27:51Councillor Amad.

03:28:00Councillor Gwamanda.

03:28:05Councillor Karolia.

03:28:12Councillor Mokome.

03:28:22And we move to DA.

03:28:27We have Councillor Wax.

03:28:35Councillor Rahn.

03:28:40Councillor Niemand.

03:28:49Councillor Maila.

03:28:57Councillor Ramaru.

03:29:05Councillor Kgeletsane.

03:29:10Councillor Nkwanyana.

03:29:15Councillor Da Gama.

03:29:20Councillor Marais.

03:29:27Sorry, it's Councillor Marais, Andrew.

03:29:43Councillor Mazibuko.

03:29:48Councillor Rambani.

03:29:54Councillor Chabalala.

03:30:02Councillor Louw.

03:30:07Councillor Suddaby.

03:30:14Councillor Sifumba.

03:30:20Councillor Papo.

03:31:01Eh, Councillor Pietersen.

03:31:05Councillor Christians.

03:31:14Councillor Kreusch.

03:31:33Councillor Hooper.

03:31:55Councillor Kreusch.

03:31:59Councillor Ncube.

03:32:05Councillor Masera.

03:32:15Councillor Mnisi, Maureen.

03:32:25Councillor Campbell-Cloete.

03:33:00Councillor Mohamed.

03:33:03Councillor Meyers.

03:33:16Councillor Moloisane.

03:33:21Councillor Marais, Stuart.

03:33:36Councillor Landis.

03:34:13Uh, Councillor Crichton.

03:34:17Councillor Chame.

03:34:22Councillor Da Rocha.

03:34:28Councillor Sherman.

03:34:37Councillor Finn.

03:34:45Councillor Benjamin.

03:34:56Councillor Schay.

03:35:25Uh, Councillor Huggett.

03:35:35Councillor Huggett.

03:35:46Councillor Echeozonjoku.

03:35:52Councillor Echeozonjoku.

03:35:58Councillor Horwitz.

03:39:27Uh, Councillor Roberts.

03:39:32Councillor Goosen.

03:39:36Councillor Hughes.

03:39:40Councillor Fourie-Shawe.

03:39:47Councillor Jacobs.

03:39:53Councillor Jonker.

03:39:59Councillor Shawe.

03:40:09Councillor Williams.

03:40:50Uh, Councillor Stewart.

03:41:00Councillor Foley.

03:41:06Councillor Hoon.

03:41:15Councillor Jacobs.

03:41:53Councillor Bodenstein.

03:41:57Councillor Bittkau.

03:42:03Councillor Harman.

03:42:07Councillor Shackleford.

03:42:14Councillor Koekemoer.

03:42:56Councillor Santana.

03:43:01Councillor Coogan.

03:43:07Councillor Mphefo.

03:43:13Councillor Van Der Merwe.

03:43:19Councillor Truluck.

03:43:31Councillor Pietersen.

03:43:35Councillor Sekhu.

03:43:40Councillor Brand.

03:43:46Councillor Deppe.

03:43:52Councillor Steenkamp.

03:43:59Councillor Dladla.

03:44:16Councillor Mokoena.

03:44:23Councillor Baloyi.

03:44:55Councillor Raholane.

03:45:00Councillor Ngwenya.

03:45:06Uh, Jabulani Ngwenya.

03:45:19Councillor Seema.

03:45:24Councillor Molefe.

03:45:30Councillor Nethamba. Nethamba, sorry.

03:45:43Councillor Ntoele. Ntoele.

03:45:50Councillor Nenemba.

03:45:57Councillor Nhlapo.

03:46:05Councillor Mosehla.

03:46:12Councillor Ndou.

03:46:44Eh, Councillor Telekoa.

03:46:51Councillor Leshilo.

03:46:57Councillor Seerane.

03:47:03Councillor Mofokeng.

03:47:10Councillor Nkosi.

03:47:27Councillor Mogapi.

03:47:33Councillor Moepi.

03:48:03Uh, Councillor Tshedo.

03:48:07Councillor Komane.

03:48:13Councillor Raseruthe.

03:48:17Councillor Mkasi.

03:48:24Councillor Radebe.

03:48:30Councillor Zitha.

03:48:39Councillor Makhafola.

03:48:50Councillor Tshwaku.

03:48:58Councillor Mbambala.

03:49:06Councillor Cook.

03:49:16Councillor Mabaso.

03:49:25Councillor Makhuba.

03:50:07Councillor Manganyi.

03:50:11Councillor Nkomo.

03:50:16Councillor Nyembe.

03:50:22Councillor Mkhize.

03:50:31Councillor Khanyile.

03:51:27Councillor Nkokou.

03:51:33Councillor Wilskut.

03:51:42Councillor Kunene.

03:51:51Councillor Paul Mokwena.

03:54:10Councillor Cherry.

03:54:24Councillor Simonse.

03:54:33Councillor Ponsonby.

03:54:38Councillor Kaldine.

03:55:01Councillor Simonse.

03:55:08Councillor Zigebe.

03:55:26Councillor Abdool.

03:55:32Councillor De Lange.

03:55:37Councillor Boer.

03:55:46Councillor Smit.

03:55:54And lastly, Councillor Pelzer.

03:56:01Councillors, if there is a councillor's name I did not call, kindly raise your hand or make your way to the voting station. Thank you. We've come to the end of the list.

03:58:00Right into the bag.

03:58:02SesothoE tlameha go fellela

03:58:30Testing, one, two.

03:59:54Eh, thank you very much, eh, to everyone in the chambers.

Voting closed and counting

04:00:02We confirm that there has not been anyone who indicated that they have not been called and they were supposed to be voting. And at this moment we will then declare the voting session to be closed and counting will then continue in front of the party agents.

04:08:28Councillors, may we kindly request that you raise your mic so that we can determine which mic is causing havoc in the chamber. Someone is just playing ka mic. All right. You got it done and, oh. Sorted. Thank you.

IEC hands over result slips

04:40:52Thank you, can we be together?

04:41:05No, at this moment I just want to indicate that as the IEC, we have concluded the counting. And then I have the results slips with myself, and I am

04:41:27I can see that the party agents, they have signed the slips to confirm that they are happy with the content of the result slip. And at this point, I am going to hand over these result slips to the presiding officer who will then direct us going forward.

Announcement of Speaker election result

04:44:46Good afternoon, honorable councillors.

04:44:57If this was my court, I was going to ask council to approach the bench. Otherwise, we want to take this opportunity to thank the IEC. The voting process has been concluded and the results have been received from the IEC.

04:45:21Please note that all the observers have signed off, you know, the results slip, indicating that the process was free and fair.

04:45:55All right. Yeah.

04:45:59So let me now read what I have received from the IEC. That is the result slip dated the 3rd of July 2025. Position of the Speaker of Council of the City of Joburg Metropolitan Municipality. Three candidates.

04:46:40Is it better now?

04:46:41Yes.

04:46:42Thank you so much. Yes, as I was indicating that we thank the IEC for running the elections and they delivered the results to us. And just to confirm that the voting process has been concluded and that all the observers that were appointed by yourselves

04:47:06have signed off the result slip, indicating that the process was free and fair.

04:47:14So, I want to read the result slip. The result slip, the result slip. I'm sure you can't hear me again, eh? Okay. Let me raise my voice. The result slip dated the 3rd of July, 2025,

04:47:41there were three candidates nominated by the three parties, and the first candidate on the result slip is Alex Christians. Received,

04:48:30Okay, then. It was for real. The result slip, the candidates, the three candidates, the first candidate is Alex Christians, received 68 votes.

04:48:49The second candidate is Margaret Sharon Arnolds. Received. Yes. Received 137 votes. 137 votes.

04:49:10Yongama Zigebe received five votes. The second part of the result slip, which is important for auditing purposes, total ballots cast is 249. Cancelled ballot is zero. Total spoiled ballots is 39.

04:49:39Total valid votes, 210. So this means we've got a candidate who received the majority of the votes in terms of that section that we read. So we've got a candidate that received the majority of the votes. So this in itself empowers the presiding officer to declare

04:50:06Margaret Sharon Arnolds as the Speaker of the Council of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.

04:50:32Congratulation. Congratulation, Madam Arnolds. At this point, at this point, at this point,

04:50:51at this point, I'm going to allow the protocol team five minutes to set up for the swearing in of the Speaker. I'm going to also be handing over to the Regional Court President, Modibedi Djaje.

04:51:25SesothoAkere.

Resignation letter of Cllr Arnolds as MMC

05:01:55Good afternoon. You know, we are nearing the end. We're just sorting out one aspect, administrative, that is also legal in the sense that the nominated or the elected candidate cannot hold two positions at the same time. So, we're just trying to sort out that part. So, we have received

05:02:25a letter of resignation from Councillor Margaret Arnolds as a member of the Executive Committee. We'll just read that letter so that it forms part of the record. It's dated today, the 3rd of July. Resignation as a member of the Mayoral Committee effective immediately. Dear Executive Mayor, Acting Councillor Sello Dada Morero

05:02:54and Acting Executive Mayor Councillor Kenny Kunene, I hereby tender my resignation as a member of the Mayoral Committee, MMC, for Finance with immediate effect. This decision is made in light of recent developments within the City of Johannesburg. I believe it is in the best interests of all parties involved that I step aside from this role at this point in time. I remain fully supportive of the Government of Local Unity and its commitment

05:03:24to placing the needs of the residents of Johannesburg at the center of service delivery. I trust that the city's leadership collective will continue working tirelessly to uphold this mandate. I would like to sincerely thank all of you for the opportunity to serve the people of Johannesburg in this capacity. It has been an honor to contribute to the financial governance and strategic direction of the city. I remain committed to the principles of public service

05:03:54and to ensuring a better life for all residents of Johannesburg. Yours sincerely, Councillor Margaret Arnolds. Also signed. So, this I think paves the way for the swearing-in through the Regional Court President. Regional Court President,

05:04:17SesothoNtate Modibedi,

Swearing-in of the Speaker

05:04:19Judge, I can now safely say Okay. The swearing-in ceremony may start.

05:05:51To the Republic of South Africa and will obey,

05:05:56and will obey,

05:05:57respect and uphold the constitution and all other law of the Republic.

05:06:02Respect and uphold the constitution and all other law of the Republic.

05:06:07And I swear to perform my functions as the Speaker of the Council of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality to the best of my ability.

05:06:16And I swear to perform my functions as the Speaker of Council of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality to the best of my ability.

05:06:26I swear that the contents of this declaration are true. Raise up your right hand. Say, "So help me God."

05:06:34So help me God.

05:08:21Let me perform my last function. Congratulations, Madam Speaker. And please come and take up your seat.

Acceptance speech by the Speaker

05:09:58Councillors, we will now hear the acceptance speech by the newly elected Speaker of Council.

05:10:09Secretary to council, honorable Acting Executive Mayor Councillor Kenny Kunene, Acting City Manager Mr. Tshepo Makola, Chief Whip of Council Councillor [inaudible].

05:10:33With deep humility and a profound sense of [inaudible] having been elected as Speaker of Council, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to this council for the confidence you have placed in me to preside over this critical arm of the city's democratic governance. Thank you for trusting me with this important role, and I fully appreciate the weight of the responsibility that comes with it.

05:11:03The legislature is not merely a forum for deliberation and debate. It is the cornerstone of our [inaudible] where oversight is exercised. It is the and policies are debated and passed and where the voice of our people are expressed through their elected representatives and find expression. As Speaker, I am committed to uphold the integrity of this institution,

05:11:32ensuring that council operates within the bounds of the law. Today I also recommit myself to the Government of Local Unity, a partnership that, while not always easy, is grounded to a shared commitment to service delivery, stability, and putting the needs of our communities above political divisions. If we are to succeed, it will be because we chose cooperation over conflict,

05:12:02purpose over partnership, and service over self-interest. Let us move forward together with integrity, unity, and an unwavering focus on the people of this great city. I want to thank you all, and I want to thank my family that has been standing with me through all this. I thank you, councillors. I thank you to the minorities, but also to everyone of the Government of Local Unity. And you know we will come to council at 10 minutes before 10:00,

05:12:33not later than that. I thank you.

Speaker's announcements and adjournment

05:12:41We'll now have announcements by the Speaker.

05:12:53Okay, thank you very much to the Acting City Manager for holding the fort, and thank you to the staff that supported the Acting City Manager in convening this meeting. Thank you once more to the IEC. The only thing the IEC doesn't want to do, they don't want to recognize my ward, which is Ward 140. Thank you, IEC, for always being there to provide the service of ensuring that the relevant elections process in this regard is followed

05:13:23and that the elections are free and fair. Your support is appreciated. Councillors, please note that an extraordinary council meeting will be arranged to consider the council business that was supposed to have been considered on the 25th and 26th of June, and you will all be notified in that regard in due course. Thank you so much, councillors, for honoring the invitation for this meeting during your recess time,

05:13:55and successfully carrying out the business of the day. A special thanks to the guests for gracing this occasion with your presence and everyone who was virtually following the proceedings of this council meeting. The council meeting is adjourned. I thank you.