ANC man ousted as CT speaker
2006-03-15 11:58
Cape Town - The African National Congress's candidate for Speaker in the city of Cape Town was narrowly defeated in a secret ballot in the tension-filled council chamber on Wednesday morning.
The vote for the Speaker precedes the balloting for the post of mayor, hotly contested by the Democratic Alliance and the ANC.
The ANC's Gavin Paulse, who held the post of Speaker in the previous council, lost to the Freedom Front's Jacob Smith by only one vote. Paulse polled 104 votes and Smith 105. There are 210 councillors.
In a surprise move, the Independent Democrats nominated the DA's Leon van Rensburg for Speaker. Van Rensburg, however, declined.
ID leader Patricia de Lille said only minutes before the meeting started that no deal had been struck between the parties, and her own party's caucus had been meeting since 08:00 on Wednesday to decide which way to vote.
Smaller political parties, including the African Christian Democratic Party, also met on Wednesday morning to cobble together a deal ahead of the council meeting.
All eyes are on the city as weeks of negotiation between the DA, the ANC, the ID and smaller parties failed to break the political impasse, following the results of the municipal elections in which no party emerged with a clear majority in the 210-seat council.
The DA achieved 42% of the vote, with the ANC second and the ID third.
The ID is seen as the king-maker in the tussle between the ANC and DA.
- SAPA