By Lungani Zungu
The Jo’burg mayor’s pleas didn’t help.
Mpho Phalatse begged the opposition and multiparty government to ensure their politics were “people-centred, not self-centred”.
But on Thursday afternoon, the DA’s Phalatse was voted out as mayor of the country’s largest city through a motion of no-confidence.
Her fate was sealed when, of the 270 councillors, 140 voted for her removal, while 129 voted against the motion.
The motion was filed by the minority parties, the African Transformation Movement (ATM), Al Jama-ah and the African Independent Congress (AIC) last week.
It was somewhat of a foregone conclusion by Wednesday that Phalatse would not survive the motion after the talks between the multi-party coalition led by the DA, crumbled.
In what was seen as a desperate last-ditch attempt to hold on to the mayoral chains, Phalatse held a media briefing on Thursday morning outlining her R401-million plan to manage the city’s energy crisis.
This is not the first time Phalatse has been removed through a motion of confidence.
She suffered the same fate in September last year. But she fought her removal all the way to the Johannesburg High Court.
The court ruled in her favour, ordering that she should return to her job as mayor of the country’s economic hub. Jo’burg with a budget of R77 billion is supposed to cater for six million residents.
In an eleventh-hour frantic bid to save Phalatse, the DA went hat-in-hand to Gayton McKenzie, pleading that he order the eight councillors of his party, the Patriotic Alliance (PA), to oppose the motion.
When the attempt also fell flat, it was clear Phalatse’s time as mayor was over.
She became mayor of Joburg after the 2021 local government failed to produce an outright winner — forcing parties to go into a coalition to topple the ANC.
ActionSA, a party led by former DA Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba, criticised the DA for being “arrogant”.
This motion that sank Phalatse on Thursday was initially tabled in November.
But the opposition parties in the Joburg council — including the ANC — agreed to push it back due to the negotiations collapsing.
Pictured above: The ousted mayor Mpho Phalatse
Image source: IOL
