The African Transformation Movement’s (ATM) John Senona has been elected the new Ekurhuleni council speaker.
This follows a vacancy left by the previous speaker, the ANC’s Dora Mlambo, who was recently appointed to the mayoral committee.
Senona received 94 votes backed by the ANC and minority parties — beating the EFF’s Nkululeko Dunga, who got 31 votes, solely from his caucus.
About 21 ballots were spoilt, with 63 unused, among a total of 210 ballots.
The EFF has now suffered this loss for the second time, having gone up against Mlambo in January. The red berets insist that they keep fielding candidates because according to their initial co-governance agreement with the ANC, the speaker post was allocated to them.
Xhakaza, in the filling of his mayoral committee, elevated minority partners who backed his election and increased the number of ANC members in the mayoral committee
However, a spat between the two parties has resulted in Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza abandoning reliance on the EFF and looking for other allies to have a majority.
Insiders say the position was offered to the DA but the caucus declined. The party also abstained from voting.
ActionSA and the EFF had already declined Xhakaza’s offer to join his government, rejecting his mayoral committee appointments during a recent reshuffle. This meant that Xhakaza, in the filling of his mayoral committee, elevated minority partners who backed his election and increased the number of ANC members in the mayoral committee.
The new speaker is the sole deployee of his party in council, which has one seat.
Senona was sworn in shortly after the announcement of his victory, before the special council sitting was adjourned.
TimesLIVE
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