Cllrs plot to oust mayor Nyeku?

RYDER GABATHUSE
Staff Writer | Tuesday April 20, 2010 00:00

He told a special full council meeting called to discuss a trip to the Belgian City of Genk: 'I now know why some councillors have decided not to cooperate with others. I overheard some of them plotting the overthrow of mayor Nyeku.' He said they were not prepared to cooperate with others to render the council ungovernable.

'Their main reason for opposing the decision of the mayor is to fulfil their interest of passing a motion of no confidence in the mayor,' added Mbulawa. In his view, it was worrying that the FCC could hold three special full council meetings in a week without making any meaningful progress. Mbulawa is a known Barata-Phathi faction activist.It was not long before nominated councillor and BDP's A-Team activist Ford Moiteela raised a point of clarification and reminded Mbulawa, 'you should not pass our motion because we will pass our own motion when it is time to do so'.

From the meeting, it was apparent that the debate about the trip to the Belgian city has united unlikely allies.Fighting from one corner was independent councillor Ignatius Moswaane, who seemed determined to make the loudest noise and oppose every decision the council made. His allies included former mayor Buti Billy, James Kgalajwe, Moiteela, Alec Tabengwa and Robert Mosweu.

On the other side of the political divide were Botswana Congress Party (BCP)'s Kays Phitshana, Professor Tlou, and BDP's Ace Ntheetsang and Biki Mbulawa.

The group, led by Moswaane, was adamant that the FCC should postpone the trip by two weeks to 'teach Nyeku and his team' that consultation is paramount. They spent the whole day condemning Nyeku for his bad management style to the extent that they ended up declaring that the resolution passed on Wednesday postponing the trip, should be adhered to at all cost.

At the start of the meeting, the Moswaane group demanded that the mayor and nominated councillor Joyce Ndove, the chairperson of the twinning committee, should recuse themselves from the meeting.

Leading the pack, Moswaane tabled a motion invoking article 24 of the council Standing Orders arguing that Nyeku and Ndove had a vested interest in the matter and should recuse themselves from the meeting.

In his arguments, Moswaane indicated that Nyeku and Ndove had been given per diem and as such they had a interest in the matter.

It was only after council attorney Musa Solomon had interpreted the article that Nyeku and Ndove were able to remain in the house.

It was however, apparent that Moswaane and his group would not give up. They then resorted to fighting for the postponement of the trip, which they said, would help remind the mayor that in future he should learn to consult.

Although there was no conclusion from the mayor, it was evident that the council was likely to stick to the Wednesday position that the trip be postponed and the chairperson of the twinning committee Ndove be dropped and BCP's Ephraim Maiketso allowed to travel instead.

Just when the Moswaane group was certain that they would romp home to victory, Assistant Minister of Local Government Kentse Rammidi indicated that the mayor was 'empowered to make decisions' without necessarily convening a special full council.

Moswaane, who interjected many times whilst Rammidi was speaking, at some stage left Rammidi crying out: 'Moswaane don't interrupt me...' As if he were not taking the minister seriously, Moswaane appealed to Rammidi: 'Minister, don't intimidate us.'

It was then that Moiteela, Kgalajwe, Mosweu, Tabengwa and Billy echoed Moswaane's sentiments as they felt they were being intimidated.

True to form, the fight between the mayor and this group is far from over. They vowed to expose the mayor's weaknesses in so far as his understanding of the council standing orders is concerned.