Sithembiso Zungu from the African National Congress (ANC) has been elected as chief whip of the City of Johannesburg council.
Zungu was elected during the 11th extraordinary Joburg council meeting on Thursday night.
He beat the Democratic Alliance‘s (DA) Tyrell Meyers and ActionSA’s Marcel Coutriers by 139 votes.
Meyers was removed through a motion of no confidence on Thursday which was tabled by the ANC caucus and supported by minority parties in the coalition.
ALSO READ: Judgment reserved in Phalatse’s urgent application to be reinstated as Joburg mayor
With 137 votes, the Good Party’s Lloyd Phillips was also elected as the new Chair of Chairs of the Joburg Council.
DA no longer in control
The removal of Meyers means the top three positions in the City of Johannesburg, including council speaker and executive mayor, are no longer under the DA’s control.
In August, the party’s Vasco da Gama was ousted as council Speaker, followed by Mpho Phalatse‘s forced exit a month later.
Phalatse fights on
However, the DA and Phalatse launched a legal challenge and vowed to fight to regain her position as executive mayor.
Meanwhile, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Wednesday reserved the urgent court application challenging Phalatse removal.
The DA and Phalatse argued that the programming committee meeting held on 29 September and the subsequent special council sitting to vote on the motion of no confidence – which were both chaired by Makhubele – were unlawful.
The party alleged that the programming committee meeting did not quorate and, therefore, the council sitting and the election of Morero was invalid.
Phalatse was ousted from office through a motion of no confidence brought by minority parties during a special council sitting last month.
The ANC Joburg regional chair, Dada Morero, was voted in unopposed as Phalatse’s replacement after the DA-led multi-party government coalition collapsed.
Helen Zille to blame
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Joburg said DA federal chair Helen Zille was to blame for the party’s looming collapse in Gauteng’s top metros as its faces another motion of no confidence in Ekurhuleni Mayor Tania Campbell, EWN reported.
“The attitude of Helen Zille is the one which is a problem for the DA. I hope as the DA, they realise that Helen Zille is a problem. So, they are still going to be removed from all municipalities because of that attitude,” acting secretary of the EFF caucus in Joburg, Moshe Mphahlele, said.
Another motion
The ANC-sponsored motion in Campbell was approved on Thursday morning during a meeting of the Ekurhuleni council’s programming committee.
The party’s caucus last week wrote a letter to council speaker Raymond Dhlamini requesting that the motion be voted on 26 October 2022.
Additional reporting by Thapelo Lekabe
ALSO READ: Campbell to face no-confidence motion next week
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