DA’s Vasco da Gama elected speaker of council in Joburg

The Joburg Council has elected Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Vasco Da Gama as the new Speaker with 147 votes.

Da Gama beat ANC’s Eunice Mgcina just after the DA claimed its first victory in the City of Ekurhuleni, with its nominee Raymond Dlamini voted speaker of council.

Dlamini got 116 votes, while ANC’s Dorah Mlambo received 104. There were two spoiled ballots.

In Johannesburg, three candidates were nominated for the position of mayor, including the Democratic Alliance’s Mpho Phalatse and Action SA leader Herman Mashaba.

No political party won the majority of votes to govern the hotly contested metro, which means that the ANC needed to form a coalition with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Patriotic Alliance (PA), Al Jamah and the African Independent Congress (AIC) to retain control of Johannesburg.

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At the weekend, it emerged that the multiparty coalition formed by opposition parties to unseat the ANC from power in Joburg collapsed after the DA, Action SA, the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus), the United Democratic Movement (UDM), the Congress of the People (Cope) and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) could not reach agreement on endorsing Mashaba as mayor.

The DA said this was because the minority government would depend on the EFF to stay in power.

This is a developing story. More to follow.