After protesters were ejected from the City of Cape Town council’s public gallery, Mayor Dan Plato also had to step in to keep councillors apart.

As Thursday’s meeting got under way, protesters from the Social Justice Coalition raised banners, one of them accusing Plato of being a liar.

At a previous council meeting, on January 31, there was protest action and Plato left that meeting to speak to the protesters.

He then assured them that he would visit their communities to see their living conditions for himself.

At Thursday’s protest, they expressed their unhappiness that Plato hadn’t made good on his promise.

Security staff physically removed them from the gallery.

The SJC later tweeted: “Our protest action has now resulted in a firm commitment, with dates and times, that Mayor Dan Plato will visit Ses’khona in Phillipi East, Nkandla in Kraaifontein & Island, Qandu-qandu and KK Section in Khayelitsha.”

Later, Cape Town speaker Dirk Smit asked DA councillor Nikelo Mzuvukile to take a seat next to him and act as deputy speaker, Netwerk24 reported.

The ANC raised objections about this, and eventually, left their seats. As ANC and DA councillors started shoving each other, Plato could be seen intervening, getting in between councillors.

Smit adjourned the meeting for a few minutes and spoke to the party leaders. After the adjournment, he and the ANC caucus leader both apologised for the disruption.

In his speech, which has been published on the City’s website, Plato said the City’s budget attempts to deliver to Cape Town’s poorest residents, “ensuring that funding is available for the delivery of the services that our residents deserve and respecting our ratepayers whose contributions we cannot do without”.

“Housing delivery remains a top priority of this administration as reflected in this year’s budget, where R2.3bn is allocated to the newly established human settlements directorate. the upgrading of our informal settlements has received a significant budget allocation with R589m going towards the mainstreaming of basic service delivery to informal settlements and backyard dwellers,” he said.

He said “truly integrated human settlements” must be prioritised to overcome apartheid’s legacy.

“The bulk of the housing opportunities being developed are on well-located land close to public transport, jobs, government services and public amenities.”

However, Xolani Sotashe sharply criticised the City for failing to spend the urban development grant over several years.

[source: News24]