Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse confident coalition will complete its electoral term
City of Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse has hit out at opposition parties eyeing her removal, saying the multi-party coalition would finish its term.
Following the successful ousting of council speaker Vasco da Gama on Thursday, opposition parties have pointed the arrow at Phalatse, claiming she was next to be removed from her position.
However, her spokesperson Mabine Seabe said opposition parties were peddling misinformation in an attempt to sow divisions within the coalition members while the ruling government was focused on repairing and rebuilding the city.
“It therefore worries the ANC and their hangers-on that the Joburg multi-party government has in a short period of time begun making progress in undoing years of neglect.
“What is also significant is that all councillors and senior managers will be subjected to lifestyle audits. Many will struggle to justify why there is a large deficit between what they claim to earn and the lifestyle they live.
“This is a government at work that will complete its electoral term,” Seabe said.
On Thursday, Da Gama was ousted through a no confidence motion tabled by the PAC and AIC, receiving 136 votes out of a council of 230. Da Gama lost by four votes as 132 councillors voted against it. Two councillors were absent from the meeting.
ANC caucus leader Dada Morero said they would push through a no-confidence motion against Phalatse at the next sitting, which is expected to sit by Thursday.
In a joint statement, coalition partners DA, ActionSA, COPE, FF+, IFP, Patriotic Alliance and the ACDP said they remained committed to the coalition.
However, three of the parties supported the motion against Da Gama.
In a media briefing on Friday, ActionSA caucus leader Funzi Ngobeni said they had raised their issues about Da Gama's “inefficiency”.
“We'll continue to raise internally in the coalition and that's what we advocated for in our speech. We think DA needs to reflect very hard on this and hope they won't bring him to the coalition as their only option. They must have more people within their ranks to propose as speaker. The fact is that position according to the [coalition] agreement remains a DA position” he said.
On a possible motion against Phalatse, Ngobeni said they were happy under her leadership.
In a statement by minority parties consisting of Al-Jama-ah, GOOD, PAC, AIC, African Heart Congress, APC and the UDM, the bloc chairperson, councillor Margaret Arnolds, alleged Da Gama had dragged council into disrepute.
“The act of the removal of [Da Gama] as a remedy to council being dragged into disrepute is part of a prudent process that is aimed at the restoration of council’s integrity and independence.
“We therefore categorically state with the contempt that it deserves that the Democratic Alliance does not speak on behalf of the voters in the City of Johannesburg and that public opinion is not exclusive to executive mayor councillor Phalatse’s media masquerades,” Arnolds said.