By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The newly elected City of Johannesburg Speaker Margaret Arnolds has officially resigned from her previous position as Member of Mayoral Committee (MMC) of Finance.
This will be her second stint as Speaker, She was previously elected speaker in November 2023 but stepped down in August last year to take up the position of finance MMC after the election of Dada Morero as mayor.
In her latest acceptance speech, Arnolds said she was humbled by her election and expressed her sincere gratitude after she was elected to preside over the council and for her fellow councillors having confidence to elect her.
“Thank you for trusting me with this important role, and I fully understand the weight of the responsibility that comes with it. The legislature is not merely a forum for deliberation and debate,” she said.
Arnolds also committed herself to upholding the integrity of the institution she now leads and ensuring that the council operates within the bounds of the law.
Arnolds, who is the African Independent Congress councillor (AIC), was nominated alongside the United Democratic Movement’s Monogamy Zigebe and Alex Christians of the DA.
Arnolds received 137 votes out of 249 cast while Christians and Zigebe managed 68 and five, respectively, and another 39 were spoiled.
She replaces ActionSA’s Nobuhle Mthembu, who was ousted last week in a no-confidence motion tabled by the Al Jama-ah party.This leaves a vacancy in her erstwhile position of finance MMC, which could see Morero reshuffling his mayoral committee.