Luck finally ran out when embattled Mpho Phalatse was stripped off of her mayoral chain during a motion of no confidence sitting in Johannesburg council chambers on Thursday.
The former mayor of Johannesburg lost her mayorship after 140 council members voted in favour of her removal, after the minority parties including the African Transformation Movement, African Independent Congress, and Al Jama-ah tabled a motion of no confidence in her leadership.
It is the second time Phalaste has been ousted through a motion of no confidence. The sedulous mayor has been fighting to keep her job every month since September 2022.
The battle for the mayorship was nullified by the high court in Johannesburg late in 2022, after Phalatse contested the constitutionality of the manner in which the sitting that facilitated her removal was convened.
She argued that the meeting was convened in an irregular manner and disputed the election of ANC’s Dada Morero as the new mayor.
Phalatse also wanted the court to declare the city’s speaker Colleen Makhubele’s notice to convene the meeting unlawful and invalid. According to Phalatse, Makhubele did not follow the rules of council.
Speaking to journalists after she was booted out on Thursday Phalatse, who still feels the need to fight to stay in office, said she is glad that the sitting was conducted in a fair and constitutional manner.
ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont confirmed earlier on Thursday that Phalatse’s fate was hanging by a thread, after a fallout between the DA and Patriotic Alliance (PA).
“Following further negotiations yesterday between the Patriotic Alliance and the governing coalition in Johannesburg, ActionSA can confirm that talks have failed, and the multi-party coalition will face a motion of no confidence without the majority to defend mayor Mpho Phalatse,” said Beaumont.
“As a consequence, it seems certain that the motion of no confidence will succeed and the coalition in Johannesburg will fall.
“Final negotiations ultimately failed because the DA refused to listen to coalition partners who urged that the original proposal, agreed to by all the parties [including the DA] and accepted by the PA, should be honoured.
“This proposal would have restored the majority of the coalition, defeating the motion of no confidence and delivering some semblance of stability in Johannesburg.
“The actions of the DA reveal an organisation that did not want these negotiations to succeed. Rather than honouring a universally accepted proposal, the DA sought to brand the PA as corrupt.”
The council is yet to vote for a new mayor.
Also read: Embattled Phalatse most likely to lose her mayoral chain
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