Members of the Aljama-Ah political party have staged a protest outside of the City Council chambers in Johannesburg where the statue of the late Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat has been unveiled.
— Al Jama-ah (@Aljama_ah) January 26, 2022
The party has also accused the council Speaker, Vasco Da Gama of handling council meetings like in the apartheid era.
Recently, council meetings had to be adjourned due to parties including the African National Congress (ANC), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Aljama-Ah staging a walkout, saying they wanted a secret ballot in voting for committee chairpersons in Johannesburg.
Da Gama said the election of the chairpersons of the municipality’s committees would be done in the next sitting on January 27.
Al Jama-ah Gauteng Chairperson Thapelo Amad says: “The City of Johannesburg, we are declaring it to be a free Apartheid zone following the sequence of events in the city of Johannesburg Council which collapsed not only once but several times to a degree that the Speaker of council has alleged that councillors had been disruptive. We are saying no we were not disruptive. He flouted the rules the rules because we were trying to apply the rules of council.”
Chaos erupts in Joburg council meeting:
![[File Image] A protester holds a placard during a march against corruption.](https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SABC-News-Corruption-Reuters.jpg){kind=small}
