The City of Johannesburg has a new mayor in Thapelo Amad of Al Jama_ah after Mpho Phalatse was ousted in a motion of no confidence on Thursday.

WHO IS THAPELO AMAD

Amad was born in Soweto and started his political career with the EFF. He served as the MMC of Development Planning under Dada Morero who was a mayor for little over a month last year when Phalatse was removed also in a motion of no confidence. Amad is also an imam, a leadership position in the Muslim faith. He is a chairperson of minority party Al Jama_ah and has been the party's mayoral candidate since 2019. 

COMPROMISING DEAL

Zimoja understands that the compromising decision was taken yesterday in a private meeting with the ANC where it was agreed that Amad will hold the fourth for six months  to allow them to resolve their differences with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). The relationship between the EFF and the ANC went south after they failed to follow the terms of the deal they had in the last hour.

FAILED COALITION 

Phalatse was ousted on Thursday following a vote of no confidence against her was tabled by the minority parties where 140 voted in favour of the motion and 129 against it. The DA failed to reach an agreement with Patriotic Alliance citing that they were corrupt. The PA has offered to rejoin the multi-party coalition, under the condition that it is given two MMC positions in the council. The DA rejected the proposal and offered PA one MMC position and a chairperson position for one of the Section 79 committees.

PROMISES

In his first speech Amad who won the mayoral position with 138 votes said his party which has only 3 seats in the council will prioritise basic service delivery. "Our priorities for this city will be basic  service delivery, finances of the city, good administration, combating fraud and corruption and community participation. We must be equally mindful of the cries of our people with  honesty. This will be the first priority of this administration. We will sit to make sure the city becomes clean in all corners," said Amad.