African National Congress (ANC) Johannesburg regional chairperson Sello Enoch Dada Morero has been elected the new executive mayor of Johannesburg.
The Democratic Alliance’s Dr Mpho Phalatse has been ousted as Johannesburg mayor during a vote of no confidence at the 9th extraordinary council meeting. The motion was passed unopposed by 139 votes.
Morero says his immediate priority will be to stabilise the City’s finances which he says have collapsed.
Morero was delivering his acceptance speech following his election in the council’s chambers in Braamfontein. Morero has apologised to residents for the ANC’s past mistakes adding that they have learned from them. He says the incoming administration will ensure the City is kept clean and maintained properly.
“It is heartbreaking that the city’s entities are on their knees, how do you fix a city that has collapsed? Yes we are not financially stable but collectively we can fix this mess.”
Voting process
Earlier, councillors in the City of Johannesburg voted to have a motion of no confidence in the Phalatse tabled. Out of the 270 councillors , 139 of them have voted to have the motion tabled.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) and its coalition partners instead asked for a caucus break which the council Speaker Collen Makhubele did not grant. This comes as the High Court in Johannesburg hears Phalatse’s urgent application to have the meeting declared unlawful.
Meanwhile, Phalatse’s earlier urgent interdict in the High Court in Johannesburg to stop the council from holding an extraordinary meeting was struck off the roll
Announcing the results Makhubele said, ”The results are as follows, the Yes is 139, there were no Nos, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has abstained therefore the motion is passed. If the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is not here we will extend another half and hour in order to vote in the new mayor”.
Phalatse says her reason for approaching the High Court in Johannesburg is not to challenge the motion of no confidence in her, but the validity of Friday’s council meeting. She was briefing the media ahead of the council meeting in which a motion of no confidence in her was tabled.
