Ekurhuleni Mayor Tania Campbell to face no-confidence motion next week

It’s official. Ekurhuleni Mayor Tania Campbell will face a motion of no confidence next Wednesday during a sitting of council.

Motion of no confidence

The ANC-sponsored motion was approved on Thursday morning during a meeting of the Ekurhuleni council’s programming committee.

The party’s caucus last week wrote a letter to council speaker Raymond Dhlamini requesting that the motion be voted on 26 October 2022.

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The latest move by the ANC to remove Campbell and the DA-led multi-party minority coalition from government comes after the party recaptured Johannesburg last month with the help of smaller opposition parties.

The ANC’s Joburg regional chair, Dada Morero, was voted in unopposed as the metro’s mayor after the DA’s Mpho Phalatse was ousted from power through a vote of no confidence. This led to the collapse of the DA-led multi-party coalition in Joburg, which had been in power since last year’s 1 November municipal elections.

The DA has described Phalatse’s removal as an illegal power grab by the ANC and has taken the party to court in a bid to reinstate the mayor in office.

On Wednesday, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg reserved judgment on the DA’s urgent application to set aside Morero’s election.

The party argues that the programming committee meeting of 29 September 2022, chaired by council Speaker Colleen Makhubele, to table the motion of no confidence in Phalatse did not quorate and, therefore, the election of Morero was unlawful and unconstitutional.

The DA is also seeking a personal costs order against Makhubele.

Dynamics in Ekurhuleni council

Meanwhile, ActionSA, the Patriotic Alliance (PA), the Congress of the People (Cope) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) all said last week the minority government in Ekurhuleni was on shaky ground.

The EFF’s provincial chair and caucus leader in Ekurhuleni, Nkululeko Dunga, said: “The status of the coalition is rocky, not only because of dynamics of the region but also because of the interference of national leadership of the DA and meddling in operations of the region, particularly [DA federal chair] Helen Zille, who willingly trades off influence and amends coalition agreements without thorough engagements with other coalition partners.”

READ MORE: Ekurhuleni government on shaky ground, mayor could be removed, say coalition partners

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said smaller parties in Ekurhuleni never had enough seats to run a stable local government in the first place.

“The fact is that in the event of a motion of no confidence against the mayor in Ekurhuleni, we have no numbers to protect her,” he said.

Campbell earlier this month sought to instill public confidence in the coalition.

She said the multi-party coalition government, since coming into power last year, had made “great strides” in delivering on its mandate to improve the lives of Ekurhuleni residents.

“Rumours have been circulating regarding the state of the multi-party coalition government in the City of Ekurhuleni. I feel it prudent to dispel these rumours and ease the concerns of residents.

“When we assumed office in November 2021, we undertook to get back to basics to improve the lives of all who live in the city…

“Service delivery remains at the top of the agenda for the multi-party coalition, as it has done for the past eleven months. We are undeterred by rumors, as they are just that – rumors,” Campbell said in a statement.

Additional reporting by Hein Kaiser

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