DA councillor Tania Campbell has been topple as the mayor of Ekurhuleni after a motion of no confidence in her leadership passed on Thursday.
Campbell’s removal was made possible by 126 councillors who voted for her exit against 91 councillors who voted in her favour. In total, 217 councillors had cast their votes.
The former mayor’s removal means that the City of Ekurhuleni has no mayor until a special council sitting is called to elect a new mayor. It is not known at the moment when councillors will meet to elect a new mayor.
In October 2022, Campbell was ousted as mayor through a motion of no confidence when 100 councillors voted in favour of the motion against 93. The EFF abstained from the vote.
However, she was reinstated to the mayoral office the following month when she beat ANC’s Jongizizwe Dlabathi with 124 out of 224 ballot votes.
At the time, the motion had been brought by the ANC, which claimed that Campbell had failed to provide adequate services to the residents of the metro.
Campbell’s luck ran out on Thursday when the African Transformation Movement fielded another motion of no confidence against her with the support of the ANC, EFF and councillors from minority parties.
The political chess and toppling of mayors and speakers in Gauteng’s three metros – Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni – have been a common feature lately.
This week, Cilliers Brink finally succeeded in his bid to become the mayor of the City of Tshwane after three unsuccessful attempts.
In a closely contested race, Brink, representing the DA-led multi-party coalition, was up against Ofentse Moalusi, a councillor from the Congress of the People and a preferred candidate of the ANC and EFF alliance.
Following the vote, which saw a total of 211 ballots cast, Brink emerged victorious with 109 councillors supporting his bid while Moalusi received 102 votes.
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