Daily Maverick
Dailymaverick logo

Politics

Politics, South Africa, Maverick News

Former Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor Tania Campbell despondent after being booted out by 'coalition of corruption'

Former Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor Tania Campbell despondent after being booted out by 'coalition of corruption'
Queenin Masuabi
By Queenin Masuabi
26 Oct 2022
Facebook
9
Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor Tania Campbell is the latest casualty of the ANC’s campaign to remove the DA from power in Gauteng municipalities.

Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor Tania Campbell was ousted through a motion of no confidence on Wednesday afternoon when 100 councillors voted in favour of her removal, while 93 supported her continuing as mayor.

The motion, proposed by ANC councillors Khehla Madlala and Dora Mlambo, was debated by all political parties in the council before the register was taken to determine whether enough councillors were present to form a quorum.

Once a quorum was established, voting was done by a show of hands, which saw the majority of councillors voting for the motion, while the EFF abstained.




During the debate, the ANC accused Campbell of neglecting townships and failing to adequately serve communities falling under the city. It also slammed her for the recent changes she made to the composition of the multiparty Mayoral Committee.

In these changes, the DA’s Mabekenyane Thamahane took over the human settlements department while ActionSA’s Charlotte Zitha was appointed as MMC for health and social development, replacing Patriotic Alliance (PA) councillors Human Dino Peterson and Bakang Lethoko respectively. 

The reshuffle followed a fallout between the DA and PA in the City of Joburg, which resulted in the multiparty coalition splitting.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “ANC in talks with ‘a certain political party’ about taking over governance of Ekurhuleni”  

ANC Ekurhuleni caucus whip Jongizizwe Dlabathi had the following to say about Campbell’s apparent failures: “In addition to the Eskom crisis, the city has degenerated on power supply. We all know that the coalition is not coping and it does not have the capability to steer the city.”

DA councillors backed Campbell and pleaded with other parties to vote against the motion. Sinethemba Matiwane said it was time the ANC accepted it had lost power and should use its energy to support the coalition.

“The DA caucus has full confidence in Executive Mayor Tania Campbell,” he said.

Other parties in support of her included ActionSA, ACDP, FF Plus and the IFP.

The EFF caucus leader, Nkululeko Ndunga, said both the ANC and DA had not engaged with them about forming a partnership. He said the ANC had hastily tabled the motion. Ndunga said the EFF owed nothing to either party and was not obliged to participate in the motion.



Campbell was voted in after the 2021 local government elections with the help of the EFF, which at the time wanted to keep the ANC away from the mayoral chain. It was the first time Ekurhuleni had been governed by a party other than the ANC.

In reaction to being booted out, Campbell expressed her disappointment that what she deemed the “coalition of corruption” had succeeded in bringing an end to the work she and her executive were carrying out.

Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigations

“The multiparty coalition has spent 10 months working to undo the damage done by the ANC over the past two decades. We have managed to achieve a number of successes and have been able to bring changes for the better to the lives of many of our residents.

“Every one of the parties represented in the multiparty coalition has served diligently and carried out their responsibilities for the betterment of the residents of Ekurhuleni. They conducted themselves with the humility befitting of elected office-bearers. I want to thank each of them for their hard work,” she said.

The DA’s woes began in Johannesburg when council Speaker Vasco da Gama was voted out in September. This was followed by the removal of Mpho Phalatse as the City of Joburg’s executive mayor. Phalatse was recently reinstated after taking the matter to court.

The Gauteng High Court ruled in favour of Phalatse and declared the no-confidence motion, by means of which she was removed on 29 September, to be unconstitutional and invalid. DM


Categories:

Tags: