DA heavyweight and federal council chair Helen Zille says the party will launch a multipronged strategy to reinstall its councillor, Mpho Phalatse, who was removed through a vote of no confidence on Friday and replaced by ANC caucus leader Dada Morero.
These steps include winning back the coalition partners and/or going via the courts.
“We have discussed and strategised. Nobody can just do anything unlawfully against the wishes of the voters. And we weren’t surprised that that happened. The courts are one way and the other way is through speaking with our coalition partners about how we get this thing back on track of what’s possible and plans going forward,” Zille said.
She is aware of the criticism levelled against her party, but would not be drawn into it after ActionSA said if the DA had not rejected its proposal to put forward a candidate from the IFP for speaker, the ANC’s motion of no confidence in Phalatse would not have succeeded.
At a press conference on Monday — attended by ActionSA leaders including national chair Michael Beaumont, Gauteng leader Bongani Baloyi and Funzela Ngobeni — the party set the record straight on events that led to the collapse of the DA-led multiparty government in Joburg, when Phalatse was voted out.
IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa said the experience of his party working with the coalition partners has been positive.
“Coalitions work, and they are a necessary reality in the current political landscape. The concept, however, is still in its infancy in SA, with many parties still looking to find each other. The IFP still has hope in the coalition model, and we believe it will be with us for the foreseeable future,” Hlabisa said.
Phalatse’s removal speaks to the instability of coalition governments, which political analysts say are shrouded in secrecy and are more about clinging to power than addressing service delivery challenges, and were not established on principled foundations or ideology.
Phalatse became the first female mayor of Joburg when the ANC lost the city together with the metros of Ekurhuleni and Tshwane when its support fell below the 50% mark for the first time since 1994 during the 2021 municipal elections.
Incoming mayor Morero told Business Day: “My team is already in the [mayor’s] office. I will be fully in the office on Wednesday.”
The Joburg municipality, which has 13 entities, a population of about 6-million and a budget of R77.3bn for the 2022/2023 financial year, contributes about 15.6% to SA’s national GDP.
Sanusha Naidu from the Institute for Global Dialogue said the fundamental step is to steady politics in the country’s major economic hub.
“The parties will have to stabilise the metro. There were many promises made and these must be delivered on. It is very important for all players to make certain that they continue to keep in mind the electorate and the promises made to them. It is about accountability to the electorate who must never be seen as a side bar to any negotiated settlement, but to be there front and centre.”
Update: October 3 2022
This article has been updated with new information.
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