The City of Johannesburg’s Executive Mayor, Herman Mashaba, and the Speaker of Council, Vasco Da Gama, have survived the motion of no confidence against them.
The African National Congress (ANC) filed the motion against Mashaba and Da Gama, for the second time this year. Da Gama’s motion saw 140 votes against and 120 votes for the motion. The
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) voted with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and other coalitions partners.
Funzela Ngobeni, council’s leader of executive business, said the motion was a cheap publicity stunt designed to confuse the public. It is a stunt, he said, that will blow up in ANC’s faces.
The ANC accused Mashaba of being against empowering communities.
Spokesperson Jolidee Matongo said in light of the alarming state of the City it has filed these motions against the mayor and also against the speaker, who has failed to hold the mayor accountable.
“Since taking office, Mashaba has been resuscitating apartheid legacy approaches to leadership by seeking to confine the majority of Johannesburg’s poor residents to a slave mentality state through exclusion, limited service delivery and the replacement of empowerment initiatives with meaningless volunteer programmes,” said Matongo.
He gave a long list of reasons why they want Mashaba out, including accusations that the majority of residents were excluded from the public participation process of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP).
He also said many jobs have been lost, informal settlements have not been electrified, the skills audit leaves employees unproductive and access to basic services was not increased to informal settlements.
“The reign of terror is supplemented with irregular and irrational appointments that deepens the crisis of fear, as a result, creating instability amongst the 33 000 employees of the City,” Matongo said.
He also highlighted the ongoing battle between the City and the suspended ombudsman, Advocate Sdu Gumede. Matongo said Mashaba refuses to accept the labour court outcomes that set aside Gumede’s suspension ‘and continues spending taxpayers’ money in a bid to overturn the judgments’.
The morning of the motion, saw the Democratic Alliance (DA) lead a march to the council chambers, in support of the mayor. On social media, the DA also led a ‘Hands off Mashaba’ petition that gained over 90 000 signatures.
These were not the only motions that took place at the council sitting. A matter was also referred to the ethics committee.
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