Former Joburg mayor Phalatse takes ousting on the chin

“There’s no need for a court challenge. Everything was above board,” said former Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse after she was ousted on Thursday.

Phalatse was removed through a motion of no confidence tabled by ATM councillor, Lubabalo Magwentshu.

His motion received 140 votes while 129 councillors voted against it. 

Reaction to her removal, Phalatse confirmed she was “sad”.

“I’m disappointed and concerned about our city and residents. They had a good government that cared for them, that took care of the purse, that made sure there’s no corruption, a government that was for solutions,  for service delivery, innovative and for some of hardest challenges such as load shedding.

“Just this morning we announced how we had a plan to offset three stages of load shedding, so yes, I’m sad our residents may not get to enjoy that.

“I’m honoured that I had the opportunity to serve as the first female mayor of Joburg metro council and it will never be removed from my history books.

“It’s not the end of the road for me. I was born for this, I was born to serve humanity and will continue to serve even if at different capacities,” Phalatse said.

During Thursday’s meeting, the DA was accused of abandoning Phalatse and not doing enough to save her position as mayor.

ActionSA councillor Sthembelo Majola said residents of Joburg had to know why their mayor was voted out.

“They need to know why the ANC is coming back again. They need to know that this is happening because your party has abandoned you. Your fate in this vote is as a result of your party treating you with disdain. To make things even worse, Dr Phalatse, they may even try to field you again as their mayoral candidate, knowing very well that they don’t have enough numbers to pull you through,” Majola said.

Magwentshu said he was excited that the motion was successful.

“We’ve been vindicated. The first time we submitted it in November, we withdrew it. We wanted to ensure we had all our ducks in a row. She’d denied everything we’d alleged but she failed to prove us wrong. We also wanted negotiations to be sorted between the ANC and EFF. We’ve paved the way for a government run by minority, both at executive and legislature. This is history,” Magwentshu said.

ANC provincial secretary TK Nciza welcomed Phalatse’s removal, alleging that under the DA-led multiparty government, the municipality had experienced unprecedented instability in governance.

“In just a few months, the mayoral committee has been reshuffled numerous times. This had devastating consequences for the critical work that the infrastructure department has been involved in – work which anchors the economic growth and development objectives of the municipality.

“The maladministration and poor governance that is being experienced in Johannesburg is being experienced in the City of Tshwane and the City of Ekurhuleni, where instability is the order of the day. This is how the DA governs – not the false image it has presented to the world.

“The removal of Phalatse today marks the beginning of the re-strengthening of the City of Johannesburg and  Gauteng broadly,” Nciza said.