Tshwane speaker Katlego Mathebe has scheduled a special sitting requested by the ANC and EFF in Tshwane for Thursday January 16.

The two parties are planning to remove the DA from power in the capital with under two years remaining before the next local government elections. 

The ANC and the EFF have requested the special sitting to table motions of no confidence, among others, against mayor Stevens Mokgalapa, Mathebe, her deputy and the city's chair of chairs.

Mathebe, in a statement released on Thursday evening, said due to "tight timelines" it was impossible to have the special sitting on Wednesday at 5pm as per the second request by both the ANC and the EFF following the initial request on Friday January 3rd which was rejected by Mathebe as she suspected some signatures may have been forged. 

"The two caucuses (ANC and EFF) jointly submitted a new request with fresh signatures on the 08 January 2020 at 13:49 requesting a Special Council Meeting for the sake afternoon at 17h00. The speaker declined to call the meeting within those tight timelines due to logistical inhibitions," the speaker's statement stated. 

ANC and EFF councillors spent the whole day both on Wednesday and Thursday as they expected the special council to sit. 

ANC Tshwane chair Dr Kgosi Maepa said the DA was "merely postponing the inevitable and delaying the pain" of losing the City of Tshwane. 

DA Gauteng leader Mike Moriarty said any special council to be called by any other person except Mathebe would be considered illegal and the party would immediately approach the courts to challenge it. 

Insiders have confirmed that the EFF and the ANC have already began discussing forming a "Metro Unity Government" which would govern the capital after the DA has been ousted. 

The ANC has 85 councillors while the EFF has 25. This gives the two parties a 50 plus majority in the Tshwane council.