Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse is in the firing line again as she faces three motions of no confidence at this week's council meeting on Thursday.
This is the third time Phalatse faces such motions. The first, last September, saw her removed from office with the ANC's Dada Morero taking over the reins, albeit for three weeks. Phalatse was later reinstated after a court challenge.
She survived a second attempt after the African Independent Congress's Margaret Arnolds withdrew her no-confidence motion at the 11th hour.
Phalatse's spokesperson Mabine Seabe confirmed the pending motions to oust the mayor, saying “for as long as councillor Mpho Phalatse is in office, she is focused on dispensing her duties under the banner of repairing and rebuilding the City of Johannesburg”.
Seabe said the DA-led multiparty government was “forward-looking” and not allowing political machinations to affect the work of the government and services it provides to the 6-million residents of the city.
“Those who tabled the motions of no confidence and the speaker will need [to] speak to the motions tabled.
Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse faces another possible removal from office
Image: Thulani Mbele
Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse is in the firing line again as she faces three motions of no confidence at this week's council meeting on Thursday.
This is the third time Phalatse faces such motions. The first, last September, saw her removed from office with the ANC's Dada Morero taking over the reins, albeit for three weeks. Phalatse was later reinstated after a court challenge.
She survived a second attempt after the African Independent Congress's Margaret Arnolds withdrew her no-confidence motion at the 11th hour.
Phalatse's spokesperson Mabine Seabe confirmed the pending motions to oust the mayor, saying “for as long as councillor Mpho Phalatse is in office, she is focused on dispensing her duties under the banner of repairing and rebuilding the City of Johannesburg”.
Seabe said the DA-led multiparty government was “forward-looking” and not allowing political machinations to affect the work of the government and services it provides to the 6-million residents of the city.
“Those who tabled the motions of no confidence and the speaker will need [to] speak to the motions tabled.
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“Constant work is being done to consolidate and strengthen the coalition with the intention of completing the electoral term of office and leaving the city in a better state than before,” Seabe said.
The motions against Phalatse come at the worst time for the governing coalition in Johannesburg as the DA and one of the coalition partners, the Patriotic Alliance (PA), are at each other's throats.
It emerged last week the DA wouldn't accede to the PA's demands of two mayoral committee seats in Johannesburg and two in Ekurhuleni. This has irked the PA and it has threatened to walk away from the coalition.
When the PA ditched the coalition last year, Phalatse was removed from office, indicating that the DA’s maintenance of power in Johannesburg hinges on good relations with the PA and ActionSA.
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