The DA's Cilliers Brink has been removed as the mayor of the City of Tshwane in a motion of no confidence against him today. One hundred and twenty councillors voted against him, while 87 voted against the motion and one member abstained.
OUSTED
The motion was filed by the ANC in Tshwane and supported by ActionSA and EFF. The three parties have a combined 55% of the council seats in the city. The ANC Tshwane leadership filed the morion after receiving the green light from the party's headquarters at Lithuli House. Before Brink's removal, DA members gathered outside the Tshwane City Council to support the former mayor. Brink has been mayor for 18 months since the removal of late mayor Dr Murunwa Makwarela.
GOOD RIDDANCE
ActionSA, which has been vocal on the removal of Brink, has welcomed the motion and said the step taken today brings an end to an eight year failed reign of the DA in Tshwane. Party leader Herman Mashaba said if Brink was an ANC mayor, he would be regarded by those who are defending him as an average mayor by measurement of the current state of the City of Tshwane. "We do not say this with amnesia, in the sense that we have been part of this ill-fated government. It is precisely because we have been part of mediocre governance that we felt we have a duty to act in the interests of those who deserve better, all the residents of Tshwane," Mashaba said, adding that the DA has run Tshwane since 2016 together with the all important utilities portfolio, which oversees water, electricity, sewage, and sanitation, and failed residents.
IMBALANCES
Mashaba said the difference between suburban and township communities in Tshwane was visible, and the real problem emerged. "In suburban communities, 64% of respondents indicated an improvement in service delivery, while in townships this number was as low as 24%. In this shocking statistic lies the problem, that ActionSA found itself in a coalition at the mercy of a mayor from a party who has no discernible constituency in the townships of the city he governed," Mashaba added. The city does not have a mayor at the moment and has 14 days to appoint one.
