The DA in the City of Johannesburg has announced its intention to call for the dissolution of the city’s council ahead of a special meeting scheduled to discuss the mayor’s fate.
The mayor Johannesburg, Kabelo Gwamanda, is facing another motion of no confidence tabled by ActionSA.
The party announced its intention earlier in August, arguing that Gwamanda, who has been in the mayoral chair for less than six months, is incompetent.
Gwamanda hails from the Al-Jama-Ah party. His ascension was another product of an alliance that includes the ANC, EFF, and minority parties in the council.
It was the second time that the ANC-EFF alliance had given its backing to the Al-Jama-Ah party, having previously voted in favor of a motion of no confidence against the DA’s Mpho Phalatse in January, leading to the appointment of Thapelo Amad as the mayor.
Amad resigned a week ahead of the tabling of a motion of no confidence against him.
However, that is not enough, according to DA provincial chairperson Fred Nel, who announced on Sunday that the DA seeks the dissolution of the council altogether.
Fred said the party would “amend” the ActionSA’s motion by calling for it to be postponed until November to allow for the dissolution.
“The amendment will call for the motion to be postponed until 2 November, when two years have elapsed, and the council will be legally entitled to dissolve itself,” said Nel.
“Our amendment will move that the Johannesburg council dissolve itself as soon as possible in order for new elections to take place.
“Should our motion succeed, by-elections will be held across Joburg within 90 days, giving voters another chance to elect a new, more stable city council that can begin to rescue our country’s biggest city.”
The DA is arguing that the council has failed to stabilise the council since it was elected more than 20 months ago.
“The DA brings this motion in the interest of all residents of Joburg, who are tired of the political instability that has brought service delivery to its knees. This instability can only be fixed by allowing voters the opportunity for a fresh mandate.
“The root cause of Joburg’s instability is the excessive political fragmentation that followed the November 2021 local government elections.
“This fragmentation led to no fewer than 18 parties gaining representation in council – with eight of those parties holding the balance of power despite only gaining a single seat each.”
Nel decried the political and governance turmoil that befell the city post the 2021 election, stating that Johannesburg has experienced excessive changes leading to the destabilisation.
He said it is time to put a stop to the political shame for the sake of the citizen’s interests.
“In the 21 months since the election, Joburg has seen five changes of government and four different mayors, as parties like Al Jama-ah and the Patriotic Alliance [PA] sold out to the ANC in an effort to extort maximum patronage,” said Nel.
“The result has been the collapse of service delivery, with the recent explosion of a main thoroughfare in central Joburg serving as a symbol of the city’s decline while politicians wrangle for positions.
“It is time to bring an end to this painful charade. The truth is that yet another motion of no confidence will do absolutely nothing to solve the root cause of Joburg’s instability.
“All this motion will do is bring about more instability, which will undermine service delivery further. The DA cannot play a role in aggravating this instability. We will not participate in government unless it is both stable and ethical.
“Neither will we do anything that puts the Patriotic Alliance into power, as this party is mired in allegations of corruption, cadre deployment, and once again voted for the ANC in Nelson Mandela Bay just last week.
“The DA is in the business of providing an alternative to the ANC, while the PA is an alternative version of the ANC.”
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