ANC wants City of Joburg back – coalition teeters as speaker Vasco da Gama falters in no-confidence motion

The ANC wants the City of Johannesburg back. The party’s head of caucus Dada Morero wants to be mayor and he reportedly spearheaded a late-night move (31 August) to push a successful motion of no confidence against council speaker Vasco da Gama.  

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-09-01-da-coalition-partner-says-da-gama-had-to-go-to-balance-city-of-joburg-power-dynamics/

The ANC has the largest number of votes in the council, but a DA-led multiparty coalition headed by executive mayor Mpho Phalatse governs the city.

Now the ANC wants it back, and the motion against Da Gama signals the start of a series of moves to unseat the coalition. Johannesburg’s power is shared tenuously across parties, as this graphic shows.  

The EFF is the kingmaker party, and its abstention from voting led to Phalatse’s election after the November 2021 election. 

On Wednesday night, the EFF voted against Da Gama, showing how its new and national alliance with the ANC is already starting to kick in. Over the past fortnight, both the ANC and the EFF have talked about a voting alliance as the governing party faces a tough national election in 2024.  

The no-confidence motion against Da Gama succeeded with 136 votes to 132 against him, showing how tenuously held the city is for the DA-led coalition. The same motion was tabled against Phalatse, but programmers knocked it off the agenda over a technicality.  

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Five councillors for Cope, the IFP and ACDP (African Christian Democratic Party) voted against their party mandates, and according to sources, they will be fired this week. Cope councillor Colleen Makhubele is the chair of chairs in the council. The chair of chairs becomes acting speaker during a sitting, where there's no speaker. As it stands, given that there's no deputy speaker, the secretary of council takes over the day-to-day functions and operations of council. The City Manager must in a reasonable time call a sitting to elect a new speaker.

Sources in the coalition said her party bosses were angry at her decision, but that party is in such turmoil that it’s unknown who can fire her. A party press conference erupted in violence on Wednesday. ActionSA chairperson Michael Beaumont said her new position is “like putting a wolf among sheep” because until she is fired, Makhubele can convene meetings and push agendas.

Wider strategy   

Da Gama is not the most popular speaker in a tough-to-manage coalition, which led to his axing. But the more extensive strategy is for the ANC to wrest back control of the council with the R77.3-billion budget.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-07-27-corruption-and-maladministration-allegations-levelled-against-da-led-administration-in-city-of-joburg/

The State Capture Commission witnessed how much money flowed from City contracts to the party’s regional coffers. It is also an essential symbolic city for the governing party because it includes Soweto, where the party has faced the most considerable drain of voters who either stayed away or turned to Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA as an alternative.  

Morero did not respond to requests for comment. This will be added as it becomes available. DM