By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Sipho Radebe (ANC) was elected as the new mayor for the troubled Emfuleni Local Municipality.
Radebe was elected on Monday (22 November 2021) during the first meeting of the newly constituted council.
He was highly emotional after winning with 47 votes against the DA’s mayoral candidate Daddy Mollo, who received 43 votes.
Sibongile Soxuza was elected as speaker of the municipality.
Soxuza won with 46 votes over the other nominee, Edward von Bodenstein (DA) who received 44 votes.
Silver Jantjie was elected as chief whip after he got 45 votes. The DA’s candidate received 44 votes and one ballot was spoiled.
Meanwhile Gauteng’s Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC, Lebogang Maile, had designated a local government practitioner to oversee the inaugural council sittings in Sedibeng and Emfuleni after it emerged the acting municipal managers were appointed without council approval.
“This means that the appointees in question had no legal standing to preside over the first meeting of the new municipal councils of Sedibeng and Emfuleni.”
“It has come to our attention that erstwhile executive mayors at Sedibeng and Emfuleni appointed acting municipal managers without obtaining council approval as required by the peremptory provisions of section 82(1)(b) of the Structures Act, Maile said.
Local government administrator and former Rand West mayor, Mpho Nawa,was appointed to preside over the first council meetings in Sedibeng and Emfuleni.
The Sedibeng district municipality comprises of Emfuleni, Lesedi and Midvaal local municipalities.
Emfuleni, in Vanderbijlpark, was one of the hung councils in the province, where no political party attained a majority. The ANC received 39.71% of the votes, the DA got 26.91%, and the EFF 15.59%. Midvaal remained in the hands of the DA, with a 62% majority.