There is a blame game underway in Nelson Mandela Bay, after a motion of no confidence in mayor Athol Trollip was again postponed when the council chamber descended into chaos.
The DA has pointed fingers at the ANC and the EFF, saying the parties are deliberately interrupting the special sitting because they are aware that they do not have enough votes for a successful motion to be passed.
The ANC, on the other hand, claims the municipal speaker, DA member Jonathan Lawack, intentionally collapsed the meeting.
In a statement, DA Eastern Cape provincial leader Nqaba Bhanga said the ANC and EFF exposed themselves to be "nothing more than disruptive forces in the council of the Nelson Mandela Bay metro".
"The speaker (Lawack) permanently adjourned the meeting after these disruptions, and therefore the ANC and EFF will have to get the support of 61 out of 120 councillors to place these motions back on the agenda. This will not happen, as the DA and its coalition partners take up 60 seats in the council," Bhanga said.
"The ANC and EFF collapsed today's meeting because they knew they did not have enough votes, and this highlights the fact that these opposition parties have nothing else to do but break down the council and good governance in the metro," added Bhanga.
But ANC provincial leader Andile Lungisa told HuffPost that the motion still stands.
"The DA decided to march out in the middle of the meeting before the start of the official agenda. There were no disruptions. Council meetings are guided by rules, and the speaker collapsed the meeting deliberately. If a point of order is raised, that member has the right to be heard," Lungisa said.
"We are dealing with delinquents who are using apartheid tactics because they don't want to lose. They were exposed today. The matter is still on the table."
At the outset, Lawack warned opposition parties in the metro to "conduct debates in such a fashion that it doesn't degenerate into something unbecoming".
The first attempt to hold an orderly meeting for the vote failed at the end of March, when members of the EFF and UDM continued to disrupt the proceedings, forcing Lawack to postpone.
Tensions this time round first began to simmer after members could not agree on the amount of time each party would have, to pay tribute to struggle icons Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Chris Hani.
Opposition parties drowned out Bhanga's tribute to Chris Hani and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela by humming and chanting. Afterwards, points of order – which Lawack would not entertain – rang out across the floor. The meeting then descended into chaos, and Lawack permanently postponed the motion before storming out.