ANC councillor Nomvuselelo Tontsi was called to order by a fellow councillor after ranting that no white official could tell councillors what to do with the R32-million grant received from the European Union for Nelson Mandela Bay municipal projects.
Tontsi was reacting to a report from the municipality’s special programmes department to the budget and treasury portfolio committee, which suggested that the R32-million be used for the Motherwell Urban Renewal Programme.
Department official Henning Hansen requested that the proposal to spend the money be adopted as soon as possible.
This irked Tontsi, who said: "I don’t know of any white person in Motherwell, but now a white official is telling us what to do with this money.
"These officials say they addressed the community of Motherwell, but that’s a lie because we stopped them.
"We, as councillors from Motherwell, are aware of the mischievous behaviour of these officials, who are liars and presenting misinformation.”
Tontsi was called to order by ANC councillor Joy Seale, who said: "The language used by councillor Tontsi is offensive and I take offence. I want councillor Tontsi to withdraw that comment.”
Her reproach prompted Tontsi to apologise quickly and withdraw her statement.
Hansen, however, did not respond to the racial slur. Instead, he said that if the plan was not adopted swiftly, it could further delay projects that had already been on hold for too long.
