Johannesburg – ActionSA says it intends to table a motion of no confidence against the embattled Congress of the People (Cope) councillor in the City of Johannesburg Council and chair of chairs, Colleen Makhubele.
Last week, following a motion of no confidence against council speaker Vasco da Gama, Makhubela assumed the much-contested speaker position.
In what looks like a game of chairs in the council, led by the DA and ActionSA on one side and the ANC and other opposition parties on the other side, things have been unravelling in the council.
ActionSA’s intention to table a motion of no confidence against Makhubele and others come a day after the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg interdicted a planned motion against mayor Mpho Phalatse, which was planned for this week.
According to ActionSA, Makhubele is not fit to hold the office of speaker following a series of events, including this week’s interdicted court order.
“Councillor Makhubele has demonstrated how unsuitable she is to hold office in the City of Johannesburg Council and has exposed her willingness to break laws in order to pursue political power. ActionSA will therefore demote her to an ordinary councillor so she is not confused about her role and power within the City of Johannesburg,” the party said.
ActionSA also said, following Monday’s court ruling, the notice she had discharged for the 8th extraordinary meeting of the council for September 13 was invalid, null and void.
The court also declared her not to be acting speaker and further ordered that “she is interdicted from holding herself out as or purporting to be expressing any of the statutory functions of acting speaker of the city”.
ActionSA caucus speaker Sithembelo Majola said Makhubele had demonstrated complete disregard for due process and reason in the past week.
“One can only deduce that this was to advance her own personal self-interest at the expense of the residents that she swore an oath to serve under a multiparty coalition government. It is on that basis that ActionSA will move to have her removed as the chair of chairs,” Majola said.
Majola said if it were up to ActionSA, Makhubele would not be a council member, adding that it would be requesting the ethics committee to investigate her conduct.
According to ActionSA, Makhubele is not the only council member who will be removed through the motion of no confidence in their next sitting. Others include the ATM’s Lubabalo Magwentshu, who chairs the health and social development Section 79 committee, and the UDM’s Thandi Nontenja, who chairs the MPAC Section79 Committee, who both voted with the opposition during the recent motion of no confidence which removed Da Gama as council speaker.
However, Makhubele called the proposed motion a knee-jerk reaction.
“If they (ActionSA and the DA) had a problem with my conduct, they should have raised it. This is a knee-jerk reaction but we welcome it,” she said.
The Star