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Joburg council speaker Vasco Da Gama to face motion of no confidence
Da Gama is accused of being biased against the opposition and unlawfully appointing the acting secretary for the council.
Speaker of Joburg council Vasco da Gama. Picture: Michel Bega
The City of Johannesburg council on Wednesday, is expected to vote on a motion of no confidence in speaker Vasco Da Gama.
Motion of no confidence
The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), supported by other smaller parties in council, tabled the motion of no confidence in the speaker.
The parties have accused Da Gama of being biased against the opposition and unlawfully appointing the acting secretary for the council.
The African National Congress (ANC) is backing the PAC’s no-confidence motion, but it will be an uphill battle for the opposition parties to remove the DA speaker.
Da Gama is supported by the party’s coalition partners in the metro which include ActionSA and the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus).
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The DA and its coalition partners make up 140 votes in the council and the opposition would require 136 of the 270 council seats in order for the motion to succeed.
The opposition parties previously tabled a motion of no confidence in Joburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse, but the motion was dismissed on a technicality due to the reasons behind it.
‘Frivolous motion’
DA councillor and Joburg MMC for Development Planning, Belinda Echeozonjoku, described the opposition’s move to remove Da Gama as frivolous.
Echeozonjoku said the motion of no confidence was the opposition’s way of using the backdoor to get into power.
“It’s a very sombre day because we having to deal with frivolous motions of no confidence against our speaker, who has been serving the citizens of Joburg for about 30 years.
“At the time that we should be rectifying the neglect and all the service delivery challenges that we have, people who are not interested [in serving citizens] are interested in getting their hands into the coffers of the city,” she said.
Joburg in a ‘state of paralysis’
Meanwhile, the ANC Greater Johannesburg regional executive committee (REC), earlier this month, described the DA-led coalition government in the metro as being in a “state of paralysis”.
The regional secretary Sasabona Manganye said the executive led by Mayor Phalatse had been found wanting on matters of good governance and its ability to keep the municipality afloat.
“The REC has since directed the ANC caucus to urgently engage other parties in the municipality to expose the interference and meddling by the executive as per the matters currently brought forth to the public domain.
“It is the REC’s firm belief that the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan is on autopilot.
“The ANC in Johannesburg is deeply worried and concerned by the levels of dissatisfaction among the employees of the City who are the backbone of the institution,” Manganye said in a statement.
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