Mayor refers Cllr Ehrenreich to the Speaker of Council for his role in supporting an illegal protest
I will today refer the conduct of the leader of the official opposition in the City of Cape Town, Councillor Tony Ehrenreich, for review to the Speaker of Council, Alderman Dirk Smit.
Councillor Ehrenreich has actively sought to undermine the rule of law. He has done so in his capacity as the Secretary General of Cosatu Western Cape, by directly ensuring that Metrorail made trains available to assist would-be marchers entering the Cape Town CBD.
This proves definitively that Mr Ehrenreich and Cosatu are active participants in promoting the ‘ungovernability' campaign in the city.
His conduct is entirely unbecoming of that of a City Councillor, let alone the leader of the official opposition in Council.
He, more than anyone, should have been aware of the fact that today's planned march was an illegal march, which the City had subsequently obtained an interdict from the Western Cape High Court to prevent.
We did so based on credible evidence that there was a reasonable expectation that there would have been violence associated with the march.
Instead of upholding the rule of law, Councillor Ehrenreich, with the assistance of Metrorail, invoked a memorandum of understanding whereby Metrorail would have provided free trains for the would-be marchers.
Councillor Ehrenreich reportedly went further to ensure that there would be Cosatu marshals present, thereby actively and directly assisting the would-be marchers to break the law.
In this regard it is also simply inexcusable that Metrorail agreed to assist Cosatu when they also knew full well that the intended march was illegal.
No individual or organisation has the right to undermine the rule of law. If they do then they too must expect to face the consequences of such actions.
I will therefore today request Alderman Dirk Smit to investigate the conduct of Councillor Ehrenreich in this matter.
Statement issued by the Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Alderman Patricia de Lille, November 29 2013
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