A SPECIAL council sitting aimed at ousting Mpho Phalatse as Joburg mayor on Tuesday was canceled after the Gauteng Hugh Court ruled that the chair of chairs and Cope caucus leader Colleen Makhubele, was not acting speaker and thus could not call the meeting.
The high court on Monday night declared that the meeting called by Chair of Chairs was invalid and interdicted and ordered Makhubele to pay the costs of the court application.
The court also said Makhubele, who had appointed herself speaker last week, was not the Acting Speaker and had no authority to call the meeting and was therefore interdicted from purporting to be such.
The special sitting was to elect a speaker after Vasco da Gama was ousted at the beginning of the month in a motion of no confidence.
The governing multi-party coalition in the City of Johannesburg said on Tuesday that the ruling is a complete vindication of the coalition government and, most importantly, a victory for the residents of Johannesburg.
“The interdict means that the City of Johannesburg will elect its Speaker at the Special Council meeting scheduled by the Acting City Manager for 26 September 2022,” said the multiparty coalition in a statement.
“At this meeting a unified multi-party coalition majority, having dealt with Councillors who betrayed the residents of Johannesburg on 31 August, will elect a speaker.”
The multi-party coalition has filed a motion of no confidence in Chair of Chairs, Makhubele, which will be heard on 28 September 2022.
“The multi-party coalition will be unequivocal in how we act to remove Makhubele for betraying the residents of Johannesburg from the position of leadership entrusted to her within the coalition,” said the mulitparty coalition.
If entire councillors from the Democratic Alliance (DA), ActionSA, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Patriotic Alliance, Freedom Front Plus and African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) vote for the motion of no confidence against Makhubele, it will be enough to remove her. Their votes total 137.
ActionSA says it will, in the next Council meeting, table a motion of no confidence against Makhubele.
The party said “Makhubele has demonstrated how unsuitable she is to hold office in the City of Johannesburg and has exposed her willingness to break laws in order to pursue political power.”
“ActionSA will therefore demote her to an ordinary councillor so she is not confused about what her role and powers within the City of Johannesburg,” the party said in a statement.
“We call on all councillors to put the interest of the residents ahead of their own and to support these motions for a more effective and stable coalition government in the City of Johannesburg.”
Makhubele broke ranks with her political party COPE when she voted to oust Da Gama.
She is the only Cope representative in the governing multiparty coalition.
An internal investigation into the matter by the party is currently under way.
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