By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Ekurhuleni mayor and African Independent Congress (AIC) councillor Sivuyile Ngodwana was voted out of his position in a council meeting on Thursday.
The motion of no confidence was passed with 47 votes in favour and 32 votes against his removal.
Ngodwana survived three attempts to remove him from his mayoral office.
The African National Congress (ANC), which joined forces with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to elect him into power last year, abstained from the vote, alongside the Democratic Alliance (DA).
The motion of no confidence against Ngodwana was brought by ActionSA.
ActionSA’s Ekurhuleni caucus leader, Siyanda Makhubo, says they submitted the motion because of a severe financial and service delivery crisis in the city.
“Ngodwana will be remembered as the minority puppet Mayor in Ekurhuleni who failed to hold his EFF MMC’s to account, “says Makhubo, “especially his finance MMC, Cllr. {Nkululeko} Dunga, whose reign of terror over the finance department in Ekurhuleni, left the City on the brink of being placed under administration.
“ActionSA insists that the City’s finances need to be stabilised, the institutional review rapidly implemented, and quality services delivered to our residents as soon as possible. This will require a stable government based on competence as opposed to political expedience,” he said.
The City of Ekurhuleni has been under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons recently, including poor financial management, not paying service providers and poorly maintained parks and cemeteries.
Meanwhile, council Speaker, Nthabiseng Tshivhenga, has survived a motion of no confidence in her. Ninety councillors voted to oust her, against 116 who voted for her to retain her position.
The motion was brought by DA councillor Raymond Dhlamini, the council’s former speaker, and seconded by DA caucus chief whip Michael Waters.