Phalatse goes to court to overturn her ousting as Joburg mayor

The former executive mayor of the City of Johannesburg Mpho Phalatse has announced that she has filed papers in the Gauteng high court in Johannesburg, to have last week’s special council meeting of the City of Johannesburg declared unlawful.

Phalatse was booted out as the mayor of Johannesburg last week, during the special sitting.

Council meeting

The sitting was convened by newly-elected Speaker Colleen Makhubele after 139 councillors voted for Phalatse to be removed.

ALSO READ: New Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero apologises and promises to fix mistakes

The African National Congress’s (ANC) Sello Enoch Dada Morero was elected unopposed as the new mayor.

Legal action

Phalatse said the Democratic Alliance (DA) is challenging the special meeting in court.

“We will not stand by while the ANC and its allies use corrupt means to grab power. This follows from what DA Leader John Steenhuisen announced on Friday, that the DA was not done in Johannesburg and that it would continue to fight the forces that put their own greedy agendas ahead of the needs of the citizens of this country.”

Phalatse said the people of the City voted out the ANC for a “better alternative”.

“The DA will fight until the bitter end to ensure that their mandate is served. We will focus our attention on regaining the City of Johannesburg and stop the ANC and its partners in the coalition of corruption from looting the City a second time and again paying no heed to the needs of the residents.”

“The DA is well aware of the anger and frustration residents may be feeling, especially if your vote was one of those sold to get the ANC back, but rest assured that the DA will not back down or give in,” Phalatse said.

The matter is expected to be heard on Tuesday, 11 October.

Support for IFP speaker

Meanwhile, Phalatse has denied that she pleaded with the DA’s national leadership at the 11th hour to allow them to support an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) speaker, when it became clear that the Patriotic Alliance (PA) would not support DA speaker, Alex Christians.

The allegation was made by ActionSA in a Twitter spat with Phalatse on Tuesday.

In a statement last week, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba explained what he called “the truth about the collapse of the coalition in Johannesburg”.

Mashaba said within days of the collapse of the coalition, it notified the DA that the vacant speaker position should be filled by the IFP as the party was “seriously unrepresented” in the coalition.

“They had been promised positions that did not materialise and were constantly under pressure from the ANC and EFF to leave the coalition.”

That’s not what happened, and I never gave such a report. All local leaders agreed to speak to their parties about this. Before I made the call I was intercepted by IFP @mlungisi_baso saying his leadership had instructed them to withdraw their candidate and we should field ours.

— Mpho Phalatse (@mphophalatse1) October 4, 2022

Phalatse said, “That’s not what happened, and I never gave such a report”.

“All local leaders agreed to speak to their parties about this. Before I made the call I was intercepted by IFP Mlungisi Mabaso saying his leadership had instructed them to withdraw their candidate and we should field ours,” Phalatse said.

ALSO READ: DA to challenge Phalatse’s removal as Joburg mayor in court, says Steenhuisen