By: Sello Theletsane
A motion of no confidence against Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse has succeeded with 140 councillors voting for her removal whilst 129 voted against the motion. A multi-party caucus led by the ANC has agreed to elect Al Jama-ah’s Thapelo Ahmad as the new mayor of the City of Joburg.
This comes after the DA’s last-minute overtures to minority parties in the city to save mayor Mpho Phalatse’s job failed after being rejected by the Patriotic Alliance(PA).
The ANC in Gauteng welcomed the removal of Phalatse, arguing that the motion was “a mechanism of rescuing the municipality from the maladministration of the DA-led multiparty government”.
In a statement, ANC Gauteng said since coming into office in November 2022, “the DA-led multiparty government has done nothing but reverse some of the most important work that it inherited from the ANC-led coalition government that preceded it”.
“While the latter had adopted a pro-poor policies that sought to improve the lives of the poor in the City, with townships and informal settlements being specifically targeted for developmental initiatives, the DA-led multiparty government had maintained the stance of hurling the poor at the margins.”
“This was evidenced in the Service Delivery Coordination reports that were tabled by the multiparty government itself, which demonstrate the deterioration of service delivery in townships and informal settlements across the metro.”
The ANC said financial constraints that the City of Johannesburg was currently facing were a direct product of the collapse of governance under the DA-led multiparty government which approved the 2022/23 IDP/Budget “that fails dismally to respond to the priority needs of communities in Johannesburg”.
“The said budget was finalised without any evaluation and considerable incorporation of the views of the public – a demonstration of complete disregard for constitutionality in which public participation is central.”
“Over the past few weeks, the DA-led multiparty government has introduced austerity measures in the City of Johannesburg, under the guise of stabilising the municipality’s finances. In reality, the finances of the municipality are in shambles following months of mismanagement.”
“The DA-led multiparty government inherited a municipality that was financially viable and one that had important projects in the pipeline to generate billions of rands in revenue. With no rhyme or reason, many of these projects have been halted, delaying the economic recovery plans for the municipality.”
The ANC said under the DA-led multiparty government, “the municipality has 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 DA-led multiparty government in the City of Johannesburg was a perfect reflection of how the DA leads across the province.” The ANC said maladministration and poor governance that was being experienced in Joburg was being experienced 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 Mpho Phalatse- Dagada today marks the beginning of the re-strengthening of the City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng Province broadly.”
