Joburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse will face a third motion of no confidence on Thursday and ActionSA blames the DA for not supporting their leader in the City of Gold. ActionSA has accused the Democratic Alliance of abandoning Phalatse and the city's residents while minority parties say the mayor has failed to deliver services.
A THIRD MOTION OF NOCONFIDENCE
Phalatse will face another motion tabled by minority parties the AfricanTransformation Movement (ATM), African Independent Congress (AIC) andAl-Jamah-Ah. The parties said they have enough numbers in the council to remove Phalatse as the mayor. This came after a failed motion of no confidence which saw Phalatse being replaced by the ANC Mayor Dada Morero in September last year. Morero resigned from the position after the Johannesburg High Court ruled against his appointment as being unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid and ordered that it was to be reviewed and set aside.
ACTION SA CONDEMN DA
Action SA has condemned the DA on the fallout of the multi-party coalition government which had reached a deal with Patriotic Alliance (PA). This deal would have restored most of the coalition in Johannesburg that would have kept the ANC out in SouthAfrica's economic capital and, most likely, the EFF out in Ekurhuleni."The deal, arising from months of negotiations, was agreed by the negotiating teams of all parties (including the DA) and involved ActionSA sacrificing two positions in the Mayoral Committee to accommodate the PA and ensure the sustainability of the coalition government. Despite this, the DA's Federal Executive rejected the deal," said Action SA National Chairperson Chris Beaumont. Beaumont said that the DA's stated reasons for rejecting the deal area false pretense to mask their intention to allow the coalition government to collapse in Johannesburg. According to Beaumont there was a meeting of the national coalition structure written to DA Leader John Steenhuisen on Tuesday, 24 January urging the DA to reconsider its position in rejecting a deal that had been accepted by the PA and agreed by all negotiating teams.
"Despite the urgency of an impending motion of no confidence on Thursday, the DA has not favoured its partners with a response. The consequence of the DA's actions is that the governing coalition in Johannesburg will face a motion of no confidence to remove DA Mayor Mpho Phalatse this Thursday. As a direct result of the DA's actions this motion will most likely succeed and see the return of the ANC in Johannesburg and pave the way for an EFF Mayoralty in Ekurhuleni,' Beaumont added.
PHALATSE'S REMOVALUNAVOIDABLE
Margaret Arnolds from AIC said this was Phalatse's last week in office. "Phalatse's removal is unavoidable, we gave the DA a chance to prove to us that they will deliver services, and they did not deliver services." The PA is also confident that Phalatse will be out as the mayor this time. Deputy president, Kenny Kunene, said that the DA had been governing without considering coalition partners. "We are not garden boys of the DA, and DA is not our 'baas'. That time is over, in case they are not aware," Kunene said. He added that once Phalatse is ousted, the party will support an ANC candidate for the mayoral position. The minority parties have in the past tried to table no-confidence motions in Phalatse but their attempts were unsuccessful.
