DA to provide update on embattled Tshwane metro

The DA is planning to shed some light on the situation in the Tshwane metro at a briefing on Monday as it scrambles to retain power after a messy end to 2019.

DA Mayor Stevens Mogalapa went on special leave after an alleged saucy voice recording of him and Transport MMC Sheila Senkubuge was leaked and the opposition ANC and EFF pounced for power.

Mokgalapa was also blamed, for among other things, a water crisis in Hammanskraal, and he was removed in a motion of no confidence in early December, along with speaker Katlego Mathebe.

The DA however challenged the council sitting processes in court and the council’s decisions were suspended pending a final judgment of a review process.

The status quo therefore remains for now, and residents will have to wait to hear who will take power permanently in the capital city.

At the press briefing scheduled for noon at the party’s offices in Bruma, Johannesburg, Gauteng DA Leader, John Moodey, acting Tshwane mayor, Abel Tau, Speaker Katlego Mathebe and Member of the Mayoral Committee on Finance, Mare-Lize Fourie are expected to be in attendance.

After the 2016 municipal elections, the DA formed a minority government in coalition with the FF Plus, ACDP and Cope, and elected the DA’s Solly Msimanga as mayor with the support of the EFF.

A nagging controversy over the GladAfrica tender, criticism over infrastructure maintenance, and the explanation that he needed to campaign to become Gauteng premier led to Msimanga’s resignation.

Mokgalapa took the hotseat, until the leaking of the recording.

In the meantime, the party has also lost the mayor’s seat in Johannesburg with the resignation of Herman Mashaba in October after the party’s previous leader Helen Zille returned as chairperson of the party’s federal council.

The ANC’s Geoff Makhubo took over as mayor of the City of Johannesburg.

Zille’s return was followed by the resignation of DA leader Mmusi Maimane, who also left Parliament.

Athol Trollip, who had been a mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay metro, and was federal chair of the DA, also left the party.

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