An eThekwini council sitting was disrupted when DA councillor Warwick Chapman was removed from the meeting by bodyguards.
|||Durban - An eThekwini full council sitting was briefly disrupted on Wednesday when DA councillor Warwick Chapman was removed from the meeting by ANC councillors’ bodyguards after refusing to apologise for waving his finger while deputy mayor Nomvuzo Shabalala was speaking. He also allegedly uttered the word “bull****”.
The ANC called for Chapman to leave the meeting after he ignored requests by Speaker Logie Naidoo for him to apologise.
Chapman was surrounded by the bodyguards and, after several minutes, was escorted out.
After Chapman’s removal, the DA asked for a five-minute caucus to deliberate.
DA caucus leader Zwakele Mncwango said his party was concerned about the manner in which Chapman was removed from the meeting and said they wanted to listen to a recording of the incident because they did not hear Chapman say “bull****”.
Chapman later posted on Facebook that, when waving his finger, he was heckling the deputy mayor who said he was sleeping when they were sorting out the problem of speed cameras in the city.
“I heckled that there was in fact only one mobile speed timing device in the council and raised my index finger to indicate that lone camera enforcing speeding on all residential roads in the city.
He said the mayor interjected and suggested he was not allowed to raise his finger in terms of the council’s rules of order.
“I responded with another heckle, ‘So now you want to apply it,’ referring to the rules document,” said Chapman, “He heard that comment as ‘bull****’ and objected.”
In a statement released by the DA, the party offered Chapman its full support.
But Patrick Pillay, of fellow opposition party the Minority Front, denounced Chapman’s actions and called him “rebellious”.
“Chapman seems to be treating council meetings as a circus and undermines important decisions by the city,” he said.
But the DA had the last laugh, Chapman said on Facebook.
“In what was also a very special moment for me the DA voted against the budget late this afternoon with 43 index fingers raised in the air,” he said.
“Protest as they tried, there was nothing councillor Naidoo could do about that.”
Earlier this month, Chapman announced he would resign from his post as ward councillor for Umbilo and Glenwood and deputy chairman of the DA in KwaZulu Natal.
He is moving to Cape Town and will take up an IT-related position at the DA’s offices in the Mother City.
The Mercury