By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor Tania Campbell has been ousted as the Executive Mayor of Ekurhuleni through a motion of no confidence this afternoon.
The ANC’s motion was tabled before council today and resulted in 100 votes for and 93 against the motion.
Speaker Raymond Dhlamini has announced that a special sitting will be called to elect a new mayor.
Before the motion was tabled, coalition parties re-affirmed their support for Campbell, while the EFF stated that it intended to abstain from the vote.
The Independent Citizen Movement, United Democratic Movement and Patriotic Alliance voted in favour of the ANC motion.
The ANC said Campbell’s failure to address the community of Tembisa has led to the violent protest which led to four people losing their lives, looting and burning of government property which will cost millions to repair.
Campbell, who remains as leader of the official opposition in council, has vowed to continue fighting for better service for residents.
“While we are clearly disappointed that the coalition of corruption succeeded in bringing an end to the good work and resident driven committed of the multi-party coalition, we accept that we have an equally important role to play from the opposition benches. The residents of this great city deserve nothing less, and we will not give up the fight.
“The multi-party coalition has spent 10 months working to undo the damage done by the ANC over the past two decades. We have managed to achieve a number of successes and have been able to bring changes for the better to the lives of many of our residents,” said Campbell.
Last month, the ANC, with the help of some of the DA’s former coalition partners in Gauteng, voted the DA’s Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse out of office.
The decision was reversed by the South Gauteng High Court, which said the process undertaken to remove Phalatse had been invalid, unlawful and unconstitutional.
Phalatse could be removed again as mayor before the end of this week. The ANC said her court victory would be short-lived.