Pretoria - Despite being ousted in a vote of no confidence last week, the DA’s Mpho Phalatse says she is still the mayor of the City of Joburg.
In a virtual media briefing yesterday, Phalatse called the election of the ANC’s Dada Morero a “sham”, saying she would challenge the “coup” in court. Phalatse was toppled as mayor on Friday as her urgent high court application to interdict the council meeting was dismissed.
“I introduced myself as Johannesburg’s mayor – despite the council having appointed an ANC mayor in my place last week Friday – because I believe that the sitting was a sham and the decisions taken there, unlawful,” she said.
“I believe a court will soon confirm this view. As far as I’m concerned, I still have a duty of service to the residents of Johannesburg – a duty which I intend to perform to the best of my ability.
“There is no way that I will back down at the first sign of adversity at the hands of a takeover by a corrupt few. I made promises to the people of Joburg before last year’s elections, and I repeated those promises when I took office in January.
“I have every intention of keeping my promises,” she said.
Her reaction came after the ANC in Joburg replied to her court application on Tuesday, saying it noted the “desperate” attempts to “hang on to power” by the DA and the former mayor of Johannesburg.
Joburg ANC secretary Sasabona Manganye said the DA refused to accept the democratic outcome of the council, in particular the fact that it’s former mayor and the party as a whole no longer enjoyed the confidence and support of the majority of parties and councillors in Johannesburg.
“It is now a matter of common public knowledge that there is no longer a DA coalition in Johannesburg as it has collapsed as a consequence of the DA’s inability to manage it.
“The latest moves by the DA and former mayor are a further confirmation of the arrogance and anti-democratic tendencies that parties in their multiparty coalition have raised as the deal-breaker and key obstacle in the failed multiparty government of Johannesburg,” Manganye said.
He said the DA couldn’t continue to fool the public by falsely claiming to have the confidence and support of a majority of Johannesburg residents when it received only 26.1% of the November 2021 electoral votes.
“We have taken note of papers submitted to the speaker of council and the executive mayor of Johannesburg and are confident that both will successfully defend the matter and not be distracted from the immediate tasks that require their attention – that being, serving the residents of Johannesburg,” Manganye said.
Phalatse defended her track record as Joburg mayor.
“From the R2.8 billion invested in the city’s water infrastructure and the 157% increase in the arrest of cable thieves, to the 1 800 new metro police officers deployed in the inner city, we have made a visible difference across the city.
“But on Friday, that was all brought to a halt when the ANC was let back into office by people who couldn’t care less about the fate of Johannesburg. People for whom self-advancement trumps everything else,” she said.
Phalatse said that on Friday, the new Cope speaker (Colleen Makhubele) wasted no time in effecting what could only be described as “an unlawful council coup”.
“And since then, Makhubele and others have been trying to score mileage out of this unlawful council coup, or disguise the fact that they were complicit in handing Johannesburg back to the ANC.
“They have been working hard to create a false narrative around these events,” Phalatse said.
Pretoria News