Defeated DA remains determined to ‘serve Mogale City’

The DA and its coalition partners may have lost the council election but they are still determined to serve the people of Mogale City local municipality, DA Gauteng leader John Moodey has said.

He was reacting to the results that went against the coalition led by the DA, to the ANC.

The ANC returned to the hot seat and speaker Patrick Lipudi was elected as mayor in the closely contested electio on Wednesday.

It followed the ousting of Michael Holenstein, who received 36 votes against Lipudi’s 39, with two papers spoilt.

Holenstein had been removed through a vote of no confidence, which succeeded after one of the coalition councillors voted with the then opposition, the ANC.

Since the 2016 local government elections, Mogale City has been run by the coalition that comprised of the DA, EFF and IFP.

The ANC in the West Rand welcomed Lipudi’s election and that of new speaker Noluthando Mangole.

It criticised the outgoing coalition for neglecting the municipality.

“The ANC West Rand always held the view that this failure of our people by the coalition was a deplorable and unacceptable dereliction of duty on their part.

“As we celebrate and congratulate Lipudi on his election to the position of executive mayor, we remain conscious that, together with local communities, much work needs to be done to place Mogale back on the path of development and delivery of services.”

Gauteng cooperative governance and human settlements MEC Paul Mashatile said Mogale City promised to pass the budget on Friday to meet the legislation deadline.

The municipality was unable to approve the budget due to the political conflict in the council.

“They assured us that they will pass the budget by Friday, which is the deadline for them to pass it in terms of the legislation.

“We hope they will do everything to bring stability to the municipality to ensure that they are able to deliver services to the people,” Mashatile said. –
ericn@citizen.co.za