‘Our job is far from done,’ says Campbell following removal as Ekurhuleni mayor

Tania Campbell says while the Democratic Alliance (DA) is “clearly disappointed” about her removal as Ekurhuleni mayor, the party’s job was not done yet.

“We accept that we have an equally important role to play from the opposition benches. The residents of this great city deserve nothing less, and we will not give up the fight,” said Campbell.

“From the opening of a Skills Centre in Vosloorus to Early Childhood Development Centers in Palm Ridge and Katlehong, from electrifying 1 367 households which previously had no power to installing over 48 water points, from cleaning and rehabilitating 112 illegal dumping hotspots to more than 48 km of roads being rehabilitated.

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“From maintaining over 2 100 stormwater systems to more than 29 000 m2 of potholes patched across the city. This is just a sample of what the multi-party coalition has achieved in less than a year. And, we have done so in a climate of hostility and a culture resistant to change.

“I want to assure you that our job is far from done.”

‘We warned them’

ActionSA said while the party was disappointed with Wednesday’s outcome, it had previously shared concerns about the lack of measures to ensure the Ekurhuleni coalition government could survive motions of no confidence.

“We were unequivocal in our view that steps needed to be taken to ensure the stability of this coalition for the full term of office,” said ActionSA.

“This position of ActionSA was criticised by the DA as trying to bring parties through the back door. Regrettably, today, these parties have now united in their opposition to our multi-party coalition government and ended the tenure of a government that was starting to produce positive changes. 

“Over the past few weeks, when it was known that this motion of no confidence was looming, there was no concerted effort to reach out to parties to defeat these motions. Political insults have been traded in the place of what should have been a pragmatic approach to building majorities.”

The party said it hoped the lessons of local government coalitions are learnt “quickly” and with “humility”.

Ekurhuleni motion for ‘our people’

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said the motion of no confidence against Campbell was about the interests of the residents, not to score political points.

Speaking to the media following the successful motion, Lesufi thanked all the political parties that voted in favour of the motion.

“We want to appreciate our coalition partners for sticking to the arrangements that we made and for believing in the African National Congress (ANC). We assure them, we’re not going to disappoint them. We will respect their existence and their views and we will do everything in our power to ensure in everything we do, we consult them,” said Lesufi.

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“We want to assure the people of Ekurhuleni that this motion was improving everything about the interests of our people. We really believe that we tabled a convincing motion, the finances of this municipality is going through difficulties, service delivery literally came to a halt, so we believe this motion was not about scoring political points, but about service delivery.”

Compiled by Vhahangwele Nemakonde