Minority parties gun for Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse in motion of no confidence

Minority opposition parties are expected to bring a motion of no confidence against Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse at the next council meeting which the African National Congress (ANC) says it will support.

This comes after Speaker Vasco da Gama was voted out of office last week, after he was accused of appointing a secretary in council and concealing the details of the appointment.

At a media briefing addressed by the minority parties in Johannesburg on Monday, Phalatse and the Democratic Alliance (DA) was also accused of failing to serve the needs of the residents in the metro.

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Thapelo Amad from Al Jama-ah said Phalatse failed in her duties.

“Media know that she made commitments to the residents of Soweto and she failed to appear, and she made excused that she was sick while she was out of the country somewhere.”

“This is not personal, but we understand that we are in the battle field. We are not here by virtue of employment but we are here to make it a point that we hold upon our fiduciary duty as councillors,” Amad said.

Amad added the main issue that upset the minority party in the City of Johannesburg Council was the lack of separation of powers between executive and legislature.

“So, Mpho Phalatse who is the executive mayor and the former speaker Vasco Da Gama colluded on concealing the reports of fraud, corruption, maladministration that Mayor Mashaba who was the DA member at the time operationalised and capacitated the function of forensic and investigation.”  

“We are still going to lobby including the minorities which are within the government to make it a point that we are going to remove executive mayor Mpho Phalatse for concealment or reports and protecting individuals,” Amad said.

The ANC Joburg chairperson, Dada More, said the party supports the motion because Phalatse has failed in her duties.

“Clearly in the last eight months, we have not seen any services delivered precisely because the DA coalition instead of focusing on service delivery, they are targeting City officials labelling them corrupt.”

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