DA to table motion of no confidence in Premier Makhura

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has announced it will table a motion of no confidence in Gauteng Premier David Makhura in the provincial legislature.

Motion of no confidence

Speaking at a media briefing on Monday in Johannesburg, DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said after nearly eight years of Makhura being in office, he had done nothing to change the living conditions of the province’s residents.

Msimanga cited – among other reasons – Gauteng’s high crime, unemployment and poverty rates as well as corruption in building projects as the reasons behind their motion of no confidence.

“Where does the bug stop? The bug stops with the premier and if the premier is failing to account, therefore, he doesn’t deserve to be the premier of this province.

“This is why we will be tabling a motion of no confidence against the premier in the next couple of days,” he said.

ALSO READ: ‘SA is ungovernable, criminals have taken over’ – David Makhura

Msimanga accused Makhura of putting the interests of his ANC comrades before those of Gauteng residents.

“Six years and two administrations on, we are still awaiting the outcome of the ‘game-changing’ lifestyle audits on members of the executive. Every time he has the state of the province address, he keeps mentioning the lifestyle audit reports.

“Up to so far, we haven’t seen a lifestyle audit report of any of the executive members, including him.

“What ill-gotten gains are being squirreled away? This is the only logical reason for these reports to be not released.”

DA talking to other parties

Msimanga, who’s also the DA’s caucus leader in the Gauteng provincial legislature, said their motion of no confidence would be tabled in the legislature on Monday.

“The motion has already been signed and it will be submitted today,” he said.

READ MORE: Gauteng Sopa 2022: ‘No good story’ for Premier Makhura

Despite not having the majority of seats in the legislature to oust Makhura from office, Msimanga said they were confident about the success of their motion.

He said they were talking to other opposition parties represented in the legislature to bolster their motion.  

“We are in conversation with other political leaders in the legislature around the concerns and some of them have raised their own concerns in terms of how the government is being run.

“We are very much aware of the numbers game but also we’re very much aware of their own [ANC] internal battles.”

Makhura responds to no-confidence motion

Meanwhile, Makhura’s office described the DA’s planned no-confidence motion as a desperate move for relevance by the official opposition party.

Makhura’s spokesperson Vuyo Mhaga accused the DA of employing “cheap politics” for relevance in order to distract from its own internal party challenges.

He said the premier had introduced reforms aimed at institutionalising integrity and an ethical culture within the provincial government.

“The reports that the party alleges to have not seen were tabled in the legislature and to the broader public. Some of the reforms made to date include the establishment of the Open Tender System in 2014, the appointment of the civil society-led Gauteng Ethics Advisory Council chaired by Dr Terence Nombembe in 2017,” Mhaga said in a statement.

NOW READ: DA gives Makhura a week to release corruption reports after spending millions on probes