Motion of no confidence against Mpho Phalatse withdrawn

The motion of no confidence against City of Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse has been withdrawn.

According to ANC chairperson in Johannesburg Dada Morero, the decision to withdraw the motion against Phalatse came from the African National Congress (ANC) provincial structure, which he said was still in consultation with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

“We received an instruction just around 12 that there are ongoing debates and discussions between the provincial executive committee of the ANC and the national leadership of the EFF in terms of consolidation of numbers. We were then instructed to withdraw the motion to allow them to consolidate and conclude the discussions,” said Morero.

Another motion of no confidence was likely to be tabled early next year.

Earlier this month, EFF leader Julius Malema said if the ANC wanted his party’s support in the City of Johannesburg, it would first have to rectify the mistake it made in Ekurhuleni.

Malema slammed the party’s lack of communication following their disagreement on who would be voted in as mayor in Ekurhuleni, which resulted in DA’s Tania Campbell’s return to her position.

Malema said the EFF was willing to talk to the ANC, on condition that they fix what happened in Ekurhuleni.

“Even the ANC we are willing to talk to them, but we are not going to vote for their motion of confidence now. If the ANC wants to talk, they must first go to Ekurhuleni and put the EFF Mayor,” said Malema at the time.

READ MORE: If ANC wants EFF support in Joburg, they must hand over Ekurhuleni, says Malema

Motions of no confidence ‘concerning’

Addressing the media on Thursday evening, Phalatse said while she was not surprised by the withdrawal of the motion against her, she was concerned about the frequency of the motions.

“There is always a threat of a motion of no confidence in our politics, we’ve got a democratic society and we’ve got to give people the opportunity to do so. I have, of course, a concern about the frequency of these motions and this is something we will be tabling to our rules committee,” she said.

“Ekurhuleni and parliament have a six-month rule, but the City of Johannesburg has no limits to the number of motions of confidence that can be brought and that’s a bit problematic, it does not speak well for stability. That’s something that urgently needs to be looked at. Our focus now ill be to make every day count, every day that we’ve been given to serve our residents will be used exactly for that reason.”

Phalatse must do her job

But African Independent Congress’ Margaret Arnolds said Phalatse should not worry about the motions of confidence brought against her if she is doing her job well.

“If she does her job well, we won’t need to bring these motions. Mpho Phalatse has failed the residents of the City of Joburg. Services are not being delivered, they lied to the City and said there is money in the City and then expect us to approve a R2 billion loan.

“It’s not about us bargaining with anyone, the minorities have just had enough because there is no service delivery,” she told Newzroom Afrika on Thursday evening.

READ NEXT: City of Joburg council rejects Mpho Phalatse’s R2 billion loan request again