Ekurhuleni council adjourned as speaker Raymond Dhlamini takes court action

The Ekurhuleni special council sitting was adjourned on Monday morning due to an urgent court application filed by embattled speaker Raymond Dhlamini.

The DA's Dhlamini alleges that the council meeting was illegally arranged by Ekurhuleni city manager Dr Imogen Mashazi.

The adjourned council sitting follows last Thurday's sitting which descended into chaos and collapsed after political parties fought inside the council chambers in Germiston.

Dhlamini, who postponed the sitting despite disapproval from various political parties, was scheduled to face a motion of no confidence as the speaker.

Dhlamini asked that the court interdict the Monday council sitting until it hears a complete application seeking to set aside Mashazi's “unlawful” decisions, which include the calling and convening of Monday's short-lived meeting.

Mashazi wrote to councillors on Friday stating substantive reasons had been provided to motivate for the special sitting.

She was requested to convene the sitting by minority parties represented in the council, who had also filed motions of no confidence in Dhlamini, which were scheduled to be heard last Thursday before the sitting collapsed. 

The ANC and EFF, who are planning to boot out the DA from its Gauteng metros, are in the process of ironing out a pact that would see the red berets taking over the running of Ekurhuleni and the ANC returning to power in Johannesburg.

Former Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse was the first to be ousted last week, and was replaced by Al-Jama-ah's Thapelo Amad.

The alliance between the ANC and EFF — and by extension the PA and other small parties disgruntled with the DA — is also poised to go after the City of Tshwane.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.