Ekurhuleni Mayor Tania Campbell faces another no-confidence motion

City of Ekurhuleni Mayor Tania Campbell will face another fresh attempt by opposition parties to remove her from office.

The motion of no confidence has been approved by the metro’s council programming committee and will be heard during an ordinary sitting of the council on 30 March 2023.

Motion of no confidence

Campbell, a Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor, is likely to be booted out of office after a “coalition” of opposition parties – led by the African National Congress (ANC) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – last month removed the DA councillor Raymond Dhlamini as a council speaker and voted in EFF councillor Nthabiseng Tshivenga as speaker.

ALSO READ: Tania Campbell removed as mayor of Ekurhuleni

DA councillor Khetha Shandu later resigned on 2 February, as the whip of the council before facing a motion of no confidence from opposition parties. ANC deputy regional chairperson Jongizizwe Dlabathi was elected to fill his position.

The group of small parties led by the ANC and EFF is understood to have a majority of seats in the council.

Amendment to the standing orders

The motion of no confidence in Campbell comes after a recent repeal of a council regulation, which placed a six-month limit on the number of motions, including no-confidence motions, that can be tabled in council.

The amendment to the standing orders means that councillors can table motions without being restricted by the six-month limit.

The ANC and EFF have denied that the amendments were passed in order to remove Campbell from office, arguing that the changes went through a public participation process and were tabled in the programming committee before being approved in council.

Campbell was previously removed from office through an ANC-sponsored motion of no-confidence on 26 October.

RELATED: DA’s Tania Campbell re-elected as City of Ekurhuleni mayor

After two weeks, she was reinstated as mayor in November, after a collapse in talks between the ANC and EFF over which party should run the metro.

Campbell ‘committed to serving all residents’

Campbell on Friday noted the approval of the motion of no confidence by the programming committee.

The mayor said she respects the processes of council and the democratic rights of parties represented in council.

Despite this, Campbell said she remains steadfast in the DA-led multiparty coalition government’s commitment to serving all residents of the City of Ekurhuleni.

“Service delivery remains a priority for our multiparty coalition government, and we will not waiver in continuing to deliver on our mandate,” she said in a statement.

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