By Doreen Mokgolo
Ekurhuleni’s city councillors have unsuccessfully tried to remove their mayor, unlike their neighbours in Johannesburg, who succeeded on Thursday.
The ANC and the EFF have been trying to remove Ekurhuleni mayor Tania Campbell. In November last year they were unsuccessful as well.
Thursday’s first sitting of the ordinary council in Ekurhuleni ended with EFF members physically forcing council speaker Raymond Dlamini off his platform.
This was after the parties failed to agree on the order of the agenda. It was to start either with the proposed budget adjustment or the tabled motion of no confidence in Dlamini and the council chief whip, Khetha Shandu.
Last week a number of minority parties, the so-called “Super Seven”, submitted a proposal to table the motion of no confidence in the two councillors.
If the two are removed it will make way for the suspension of the standing orders and the parties will then submit another motion of no confidence against mayor Campbell.
On Thursday the frustrated EFF claimed that the speaker was flaunting council rules by pushing for the budget adjustment to be the first item on the agenda.
The speaker was forced to collapse the meeting.
The Gauteng chairperson of the EFF, Nkululeko Dunga, said the motion of no confidence should be prioritised over the adjustment of the budget, as the DA-led government has failed the residents of Ekurhuleni.
“The speaker was flaunting the rules of the council and dictating the agenda to the councillors, and for that the meeting had to be collapsed,” he said.
Dlamini refuted claims that he was attempting to delay the tabling of the motion.
Chief whip of the ANC in Ekurhuleni, Jongizizwa Dlabathi, said the speaker and the chief whip in council are not fit for the job.
“They have demonstrated that they are not coping. Townships are neglected. We and the EFF are like-minded and believe it is time for them to be removed,” he added.
The council is expected to sit again in seven days’ time.
Pictured above: Ekurhuleni mayor Tania Campbell
Image source: EWN
