ANC planning to get rid of Mashaba in vote of no confidence

The ANC is planning to oust Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba via a motion of no-confidence, but the bold Mashaba says this is a nefarious ploy to derail service delivery progress made by his administration to improve the lives of the people of Johannesburg.

The ANC Greater Johannesburg branch on Thursday confirmed that it had instructed its councillors to table a no-confidence motion in Mashaba and his executives. It remains to be seen if the EFF would support the motion, but its recent decision not to support neither the DA nor the ANC in councils could put Mashaba’s job on the line.

Mashaba himself confirmed that he had learned of the ANC plan to remove him from Sanco members who marched to his office last week, some of whom had since distanced themselves from the ANC-sponsored motion. He said the ANC ploy to remove him was an attempt to derail the service delivery progress made since the 2016 election.

“The ANC is determined to prevent a situation where it must contest a 2021 election in Johannesburg comparing its dismal record of failure against the successes of the multi-party government, and for its campaign to be deprived of the proceeds of corruption,” Mashaba said.

The DA took over the administration after the 2016 municipal election, replacing the ANC. Although the ANC had 121 seats, the DA with 104 seats, managed to form a minority government through a coalition with the smaller parties.

The DA’s loose alliance with the EFF remained unstable because of the EFF’s frequently wobbling stance on policy and certain positions rendering the coalition weak. Previous attempts by the ANC to oust Mashaba failed, as the EFF then continued to side with the DA against the ANC.

But the EFF’s recent decision not to support neither the DA nor the ANC in the metro councils could see the ANC return to power after three years in the opposition seats.

“While the motion will, no doubt, present various pretences to justify it, the simple truth is that the ANC has been trying to regain power in Johannesburg from day one,” Mashaba said.

He cited the ANC’s support for protests by former Jozi@Work workers who engaged in action against the DA-led administration, the laying of what he termed “frivolous” criminal charges against him by the ANC, and previous attempts to oust him with motions of no-confidence as evidence of the party’s alleged efforts to destabilise the administration.

He said the ANC wanted to remove him because “the taps of corruption and tenderpreneurship have been shut down by the multi-party government’s crackdown on corruption.

“Indeed, the on-going investigation into corruption within the Alexander Renewal Project (ARP) is progressively showing how resources meant for development within the City were looted to benefit the ANC and their connected few,” Mashaba said.

The DA-led administration is investigating more than 5,000 cases of corruption through its anti-corruption unit, included 5 members of the ANC’s former mayoral committee who have been implicated in serious wrongdoing.

The party alleges more than R33 billion in expenditure has been mismanaged, severely impacting on the ANC’s ability to finance a local government election in 2021.

Mashaba fingered a senior ANC councillor for allegedly being involved in a R30 million tender scandal through his company. “A criminal investigation into this matter is still ongoing. Now that the taps of corruption have run dry and their looting of public finances is being exposed, the ANC is becoming increasingly desperate,” Mashaba said.

He said: “The simple truth of the matter is that the work of the multi-party government is turning around the decline of Johannesburg. Infrastructure backlogs are being reversed, clinic hours are being extended, the very first drug rehabilitation centres are being opened, JMPD has become more effective than ever before in tackling crime and an Inner-City project, with R20 billion worth of investment committed to date, is emerging that will forever change Johannesburg.”

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