Another special council sitting has been convened for Friday to elect the mayor for the City of Johannesburg.
A new mayor was supposed to have been voted in on Tuesday but the meeting had to adjourn after political parties asked for endless caucus breaks.
The City has been without a mayor for over a week now, following the resignation of Al-Jama-ah councillor, Thapelo Amad.
The ANC has enjoyed the Mayoral position since the dawn of democracy up until 2016, when it lost power to a DA-led coalition.
Between 2016 and 2021, Herman Mashaba, Geoff Makhubo, Jolidee Matongo and Mpho Moerane led the City.
Mashaba, who was still a DA member then, led the city under a DA coalition before it collapsed.
Following the collapse and the infightings in the DA, Mashaba went on to form his own party ActionSA and contested the 2021 municipal elections.
“I’m gravely concerned that the DA I signed up to is no longer the DA that has emerged after this Federal council. The DA no longer represents the party that has achieved what I desire most. A movement that can save South Africa, unseat the ANC and deliver one safe South Africa for all,” Mashaba said at the time.
Still, in the 2021 elections, there was no party that won the outright majority.
This saw the DA going into a coalition with other parties with Dr Mpho Phalatse as Executive Mayor.
She was ousted in a motion of no confidence leading to the ANC’s Dada Morero elected as Mayor.
Phalatse challenged the unlawfulness of her ousting in court and won.
She was then reinstated as mayor. But, she was again removed following another motion of no confidence vote and replaced by Al-Jama-ah’s Thapelo Amad.
This continuous exchange of the mayoral chain has angered residents of Johannesburg who are concerned about the instability this creates within city.
The City of Johannesburg is not the only Metro experiencing instability so is the cities of Tshwane and Ekurhuleni as well as other smaller municipalities like Mogale City.
Gauteng CoGTA MEC, Mzi Khumalo, is equally concerned.
“The stability of the municipality is of utmost importance to us. Our expectation is one that the municipal council should be able to elect the Mayor today. Because there are certain issues that the municipality would have to deal with. There’s a draft budget in place that they must go and consult communities. In the absence of the Mayor, that task would seem to be difficult,” said Khumalo earlier this week.
While the ANC and EFF are seemingly unclear as to who they will be fielding as a Mayoral candidate, DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga says they are ready to work with any party that will agree to vote Dr Mpho Phalatse back into power.
“We have written formally to all the parties to explain to them. We said let’s go back to where we were in 2021 where parties had a role to play. Services backlog is big in the City of Johannesburg and residents cannot afford to have this kind of instability and lack of delivery anymore.”
Council Speaker Colleen Makhubele is expected to convene the special sitting on Friday morning.
