The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng says it does not believe the party is losing control of the City of Johannesburg entirely, despite the Congress of the People’s (COPE) Colleen Makhubele having been elected as Council Speaker.
It follows last month’s ousting of the DA’s Vasco da Gama as Joburg Speaker, in a vote of no confidence by coalition partners.
Executive Mayor Mpho Phalatse’s future may hang in the balance, as the African National Congress (ANC) seeks to oust her from the position.
The DA Gauteng leader, Solly Msimanga, says the party has not been left in an entirely vulnerable position.
Msimanga says, ” We are still engaging. We had a long meeting until the early hours of this morning (Thursday) with the multiparty powers. We found out that it looks like the PA (Patriotic Alliance) has been engaging with the ANC and this is something that we are now wanting to engage with them about. We will be having a follow-up meeting to find out what are the issues and how do we then address those issues. We will then be able to put out a statement and then be able to plot our way forward.”
Extraordinary council meeting
Earlier this month, the High Court in Johannesburg interdicted the scheduled extraordinary council meeting of the City of Johannesburg municipality from taking place and declared it invalid, null and void.
The court also ruled that Makhubele not be the acting speaker of the council.
She had put out herself as acting speaker ever since Da Gama’s ousting in August.
Makhubele was also interdicted from holding herself out or purporting to be exercising any statutory function of acting speaker for council.
Later this month, Makhubele was suspended by her party. Some reports suggest it’s because she voted in a motion of no confidence against Da Gama.
VIDEO: COPE’s Provincial Interim Coordinator, Mxolisi Ntobela speaks on Makhubele’s dismissal on September 20, 2022:
Acting COPE’s General Secretary Mzwandile Hleko wrote a letter to Makhubele, ordering her to ignore the suspension letter that Mxolisi Ntobela from the interim structure had signed.
In the video below, Makhubele said her suspension letter is meaningless:
