The ANC in the City of Joburg has been forced to admit it won’t be back in power by Christmas. This emerged at a council seating in Braamfontein on Thursday where the motions were brought against Mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse by minority parties – the AIC and the ATM. ANC caucus leader Dada Morero conceded they will look to take the power back early next year. “The motion won’t be going in by December hopefully we think it will come back early next year
“At around 12pm today the instruction was given to withdraw a motion to process the conclusion of negotiations. Remember, the negotiations that were open – the EFF and the ANC – affected quite a number of municipalities, in Gauteng and in KZN so we then said we will take the instruction from the top leadership,” he said.
While AIC leader Margaret Anorlds said they withdrew the motion to give Phalatse (an opportunity) to see if she will indeed be able to deliver services. “If there is money why do they want that loan so we want them to prove to us, they don’t need the loan, they have the money and they are able to give services,” she said.
The council voted against the borrowing of a R2 billion loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa on Wednesday. Anorlds said that two key parties are on their side. “We do have the numbers, the EFF and ANC are still committed to the minorities, we will bring back the motion again.
Phalatse said she just wants to make the most of her time on the hot seat. “Our focus now is to make every day count, everyday that has been given to serve our residents will be used exactly for that,” she said.
“There is always a threat of a motion of no confidence we’ve got to give the people the opportunity to do so of course there is concern that these motions are something that we will be tabling to our rules committee.
“Ekurhuleni has a six months rule, Parliament has a six months rule [Minimum time before any motion can be given after the last one]. The City of Johannesburg has no limits on the number of motions of no confidence that can be brought and that’s problematic,” she said. Phalatse said these motions bring instability which affects service delivery.
