By Doreen Mokgolo
The future of Ekurhuleni mayor Sivuyile Ngodwane hangs in the balance after almost a year in office.
On Monday, ActionSA submitted a motion of no confidence against Ngodwane and his MMCs “to save the troubled metro from the brink of collapse”.
The proposal still has to go through the programming committee which sits on Thursday 22 February. The committee will then decide if the proposal meets all the requirements to be added to the agenda.
ActionSA, with only 15 councillors, will depend on the support of the DA’s 65 seats and that of smaller parties to successfully remove the mayor. There are 224 seats in the council.
The last time the two parties tried to work together two years ago, ActionSA president Herman Mashaba pulled the plug on the DA-led multi-party coalition due to the instability of the minority government.
The DA then had to go into a coalition with the EFF to elect the former mayor, Tania Campbell.
ActionSA’s Ekurhuleni caucus leader Siyanda Makhubo said the party is confident the vote to remove the mayor will succeed.
“Unfortunately, the EFF with its 25 seats will not be voting with them [the DA] and the ANC with 86 has not yet confirmed whether they are in support or not. With or without their support we are going to fight for the removal of Ngodwane who has failed to lead this metro,” Makhubo said.
He said the state of the city has worsened to the point of collapse since Ngodwane took office.
“Rubbish is piling up, water cuts [are happening], transformers [are] burning down due to lack of maintenance as service providers are not paid. The metro’s cash-on-hand records are low,” he said.
“The finance MMC Nkululeko Dunga failed to submit the auditor general’s report to the council on time. This is a basic pillar of governance that allows the council to assess the state of the metro’s finances.”
The DA’s caucus leader in the metro, Tania Campbell, said the party will vote to put the residents first and stabilise the metro.
“We will not be drawn into any ‘cowboy politics’ and will not be used to settle political scores,” she said.
Pictured above: Ekurhuleni mayor Sivuyile Ngodwana.
Image source: Supplied
