Makhubele is new Joburg council speaker

Cope member of council and City of Joburg chair of chairs Colleen Makhubele has been elected as the new speaker of the metro.

Makhubele, who was contesting against DA’s Alex Christians, received 141 votes while Christians got 129. The council has 270 seats. All councillors were present.

The multi-party coalition led by the DA consists of ActionSA, Cope, FF+, IFP, PA, ACDP, UIM and ATM.

The DA-led multiparty coalition government has a total of 140 of 270 seats in council. Eleven members of the coalition government voted for Makhubele.

On Wednesday, the council sat for its eighth extraordinary council sitting in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, to fill the vacancy of speaker after DA’s Vasco da Gama was ousted on August 31.

Da Gama lost by a mere four votes after 136 councillors supported his removal while 132 were against it.

kokam@sowetan.co.za