City of Joburg rejects motion of no confidence in Mashaba

In a statement on Tuesday, the City of Johannesburg said it had rejected the ANC’s motion calling for a vote of no confidence in Mayor Herman Mashaba and the speaker of council.

The city is governed by a minority coalition led by the DA.

Leader of executive business MMC Funzela Ngobeni said that although the Programming Committee “welcomed the opportunity to defend our record in cleaning up the corrupt mess that we have inherited”, the motions by the ANC were “inadmissable”.

He said the call for a secret ballot was in conflict with the Standing Rules of Council, although the motion for a vote of no confidence was in itself fine.

“The option was provided to the ANC to amend their motions in respect of resolutions that needed to be corrected to bring them in line with our Rules, but the ANC declined this opportunity.”

Ngobeni said the city’s rules made “no provision for a secret ballot and require that votes are conducted in the open”.

“Our Rules also do not afford the Speaker the authority to call for a secret ballot.”

He explained that this differed from what had occurred recently in parliament because the factors taken into account there, namely “bribery, vote-buying as well as fear and intimidation” were supposedly different in Johannesburg.

“It is important to note that the same conditions that prevailed in the National Assembly, where members were being threatened, do not prevail in the City of Johannesburg. This reaffirms the application of our rules for an open ballot.

“Further to this, serious allegations surfaced at the inaugural Council meeting in August 2016 around alleged acts of bribery by the ANC in exchange for votes, and this would constitute an environment in which a secret ballot should not be considered.

“The reality of the situation is that both in respect of our Rules, as well as the environmental considerations listed by the Constitutional Court, there is no case for a secret ballot.”

Ngobeni said they remained “ready to fight the motions of no confidence against the Mayor and the Speaker”.

“We do not fear these motions, we welcome them as an opportunity to reaffirm the wishes of the residents of our City who demanded change during last year’s elections.

“The question must be asked, why it is that the ANC insists on a secret ballot to the detriment of their entire motion? It begs the question whether the allegations of vote-buying that took place in August 2016 may be at play once again.”

The ANC had earlier brought the motion by alleging that there was a lack of leadership in the city and that its finances had been poorly managed – charges Mashaba has consistently rejected.

According to News24, ANC Johannesburg spokesperson Jolidee Matongo called for the coalition release transcripts of the city’s programming committee to the media to expose the alleged fact that the city’s version of events was different to what ANC councillors experienced.

“There is nothing in the council rules that said voting in secret ballot is not allowed. It was done in parliament and it can be done here,” Matongo was quoted as saying.

He claimed there were many DA councillors who secretly wanted to get rid of Mashaba.

“They indicated that the mayor is an arrogant person who doesn’t listen to any other views … he runs the city as if it’s his business and not according to the DA’s manifesto.”

Matongo also rejected the allegation that they would try to buy votes.