By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
A motion of no confidence in the City of Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse has been withdrawn.
The motion was brought forward by the AIC and ATM parties, backed by the ANC.
The withdrawal is an indication that the ANC and the EFF have failed to reach an agreement during the two-day council meeting.
The parties are in dispute after the ANC promised the EFF to vote for an EFF candidate as Ekurhuleni mayor and also give the red berets three MMC seats.
In return, the EFF promised to vote for an ANC candidate as Joburg mayor.
However, the deal collapsed when some ANC members felt it was a careless move to give the EFF so much power.
This is a third attempt to remove Phalatse through a motion of no confidence.
Addressing the media on Thursday evening, Phalatse said while she was not surprised by the withdrawal of the motion against her, she was concerned about the frequency of the motions.
“There is always a threat of a motion of no confidence in our politics, we’ve got a democratic society and we’ve got to give people the opportunity to do so. I have, of course, a concern about the frequency of these motions and this is something we will be tabling to our rules committee,” she said.
“Ekurhuleni and parliament have a six-month rule, the City of Johannesburg has no limits to the number of motions of confidence that can be brought and that’s a bit problematic, it does not speak well for stability. That’s something that urgently needs to be looked at. Our focus now ill be to make every day count, every day that we’ve been given to serve our residents will be used exactly for that reason.”
But African Independent Congress’ Margaret Arnolds said Phalatse should not worry about the motions of confidence brought against her if she is doing her job well.
“If she does her job well, we won’t need to bring these motions. Phalatse has failed the residents of the City of Joburg. Services are not being delivered, they lied to the City and said there is money in the City and then expect us to approve a R2 billion loan.
“It’s not about us bargaining with anyone, the minorities have just had enough because there is no service delivery,” she said.
ActionSA meanwhile welcomed the withdrawal of COJ Motion of no confidence against Phalatse.
The failure of the MONC also prohibits the ANC from getting its hands on the City’s R77 billion budgets, in line with ActionSA’s mission to remove the ANC from power and forging ahead with a pro-poor governance agenda in the City, the party said in a statement.
ActionSA added that it is committed to pro-poor governance in the City of Johannesburg and will work earnestly to ensure that the most vulnerable residents of the city receive the services they deserve, that law and order is restored, and that jobs and economic opportunities are created.