Fierce divisions within the ANC’s Buffalo City Metro caucus exploded into public view during a chaotic virtual special council meeting on Wednesday, as party councillors turned on each other in a failed attempt to oust mayor Princess Faku.
The scenes — which included shouting matches, profanities and councillors being muted — left council speaker Humphrey Maxegwana shaken.
He later described the meeting as the most disorderly he had witnessed in his five-year tenure, calling it “ill-discipline of the highest order”.
The clash centred on a surprise motion of exigency brought by ANC ward 10 councillor Pearl Hanse, who cited widespread service delivery failures and accused Faku of “leadership collapse”.
Though backed by several ANC councillors — including one recently axed from Faku’s mayoral committee — the motion was ultimately blocked on legal grounds, further exposing rifts in the ruling party ahead of its regional conference.
Now, the ANC’s national leadership is demanding urgent answers on the chaos by close of business on Thursday, while opposition parties say the metro’s residents are paying the price for the governing party’s factional warfare.
While Maxegwana felt the chaotic conduct by his own party councillors was a “pure undermining” of his authority, the provincial ANC said it was concerned such “anarchy” had occurred in the BCM council chambers.
“I have never seen such ill-discipline and a display of rude people as I did today,” Maxegwana said.
The bone of contention at Wednesday’s meeting was whether an ANC proposed but failed “surprise” motion of exigency, calling for a vote of no confidence against Faku, should be allowed.
This was the first time since she became mayor in 2023 that Faku has faced the prospect of a vote of no confidence from the council, let alone from her own comrades.
Before the day’s agenda was even adopted, the motion, citing service delivery failures in the city, was moved by Hanse.
Among the issues Hanse raised were the city’s “prolonged water crisis”, “deplorable state of city roads”, alleged collapse of infrastructure projects, alleged patronage in the dishing out of EPWP projects, alleged failures at the BCM Development Agency and alleged “collapse of municipal governance due to leadership crisis”.
Hanse — whose ward 10 covers Buffalo Flats, Vergenoeg, Egoli, East Bank, parts of Haven Hills, Muvhango and Rosedale — charged that service delivery failures endured by city ratepayers were a result of “leadership failures”, hence her motion against Faku.
Hanse’s motion was immediately supported by ANC councillor Graham Lottering, a former member of Faku’s mayoral committee, who was unceremoniously axed a few days ago and replaced by Mninawa Nyusile as sport, recreation & community development portfolio head.
Lottering’s axing, however, was not blessed by the ANC, with the province on Wednesday demanding his reinstatement.
Speculation has been rife that Lottering’s axing may have been triggered by factional battles within the ANC ahead of its Dr WB Rubusana elective regional conference, but the city provided no reasons.
Lottering could not be reached for comment.
After Lottering supported Hanse’s motion, several ANC councillors voiced support, but their moves were thwarted when Maxegwana requested an adjournment to check the motion’s legality with the city’s legal unit.
During the break, several ANC councillors started heckling and hurling profanities at each other. Later, at the request of the council, technicians muted their microphones.
As the meeting resumed, acting legal head Sphatho Handi advised the council it would be illegal to allow the tabling of the motion during a special meeting with a predetermined agenda despite a precedent having been set when Faku, in previous meetings, herself tabled exigency items.
Handi said: “Precedence is not legally binding, and if this is tabled today, it will be outside the framework of the law.”
Handi then advised that a majority of councillors could force Maxegwana to call another special meeting, as soon as 48 hours after this one, to table and discuss the matter.
Maxegwana later ruled against the tabling of the motion, leading to both complaints and jubilation from the warring councillors.
“I agree that this matter has a precedent, but that does not make it correct today,” Maxegwana said.
Later, verbal sparring erupted between Faku and her ANC mayoral committee member Sixolisiwe Ntsasela, who accused Faku of “not having the capacity to be a mayor”.
Should the motion have passed, it would have plunged the metro into disarray.
A new mayor would have had to go through a strict interview process, facing a panel including ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa.
After the meeting, Faku’s spokesperson, Bongani Fuzile, declined to comment. Attempts to reach regional ANC convener Antonio Carels and spokesperson Vuyo Jali for comment were unsuccessful.
Provincial ANC spokesperson Balungile Sapo, however, said the party was taken by surprise.
“The ANC was not only taken by surprise by today’s motion of no confidence, but also by the removal of an ANC councillor from the mayoral committee, without any due ANC processes, which is unacceptable and clearly reflects acts of indiscipline.
“The ANC is calling for sanity to prevail in BCM, and the focus should be on those matters that concern the very existence of the council — the wellbeing of the people of BCM in service delivery matters.
“The provincial ANC calls for all anarchy to be stopped immediately, the vote of no confidence to be stopped, and for councillors who have been removed to be returned to where the ANC deployed them.
“The [province] will meet the ANC caucus soon to get reports on the problems and take it from there. As things stand, the ANC condemns these developments.”
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula was equally irritated by the “serious acts of ill-discipline”.
In a letter to provincial and regional ANC bosses, Mbalula said it came to his attention through audio recordings of the meeting on social media.
“This not only undermines our work in the metro, but also brings the ANC into disrepute,” Mbalula said.
He demanded to be provided with a report on the “ill-discipline” by 3pm on Thursday.
DA councillor Anathi Majeke said the attempted motion of no confidence against Faku was “a damning indictment of the internal ANC factionalism currently crippling the city”.
“What unfolded was a blatant display of ANC party politics overriding due process ...
“This wasn’t a genuine effort to hold leadership accountable, but a clumsy, ill-conceived manoeuvre driven by factional battles.
“While ANC councillors squabble and flout the very rules they’re meant to uphold, it’s the city and its long-suffering residents who will ultimately pay the price.”
EFF councillor Mziyanda Hlekiso said what had happened in the meeting was “very sad and embarrassing”.
“I am sure the speaker and even councillors from the opposition need some counselling over this, as they were left traumatised.”
Hlekiso said the motion “was tabled wrongly in terms of the council’s standing rules”.
Daily Dispatch
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