THE first council meeting of the year in the City of Joburg arrives at a time when councillors' safety is in the spotlight.
Speaker Margaret Arnolds said they have beefed up security at the Metro Centre ahead of the ordinary council meeting on Wednesday, 31 January.
“When you enter the council, you would have seen we beefed up our security. There is definitely better security within the city today, we are hoping we can keep that,” she said.
She said the executive committee should have police in place.
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“When they go out with these executives, we also need to ensure we do the right thing and have police and everybody in place to protect our councillors,” she said.
Arnold was elected less than two months ago after her predecessor, Colleen Makhubele was removed after her party Cope terminated her membership.
In 2023, the city also saw three mayor changes which affected service delivery. At first, Mpho Phalatse of the DA was kicked out in January, with Thapelo Amad from the Al Jama-ah replacing her. Amad was replaced by his fellow party member and current mayor, Kabelo Gwamanda, a few months later.
