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Thursday may prove to be a telling day for the already embattled DA as wholesale changes could be on the cards with both the Johannesburg and Tshwane metro councils set to convene and vote on the leadership that will take the helm going forward.
The Johannesburg council is scheduled to meet a day after former Mayor Herman Mashaba’s departure to elect his successor, while in Tshwane, councillors will convene and are set to vote on a motion of no confidence tabled by the EFF.
On Monday, the red berets tabled an urgent motion of no confidence against embattled mayor Stevens Mokgalapa who has since gone on voluntary special leave.
Mokgalapa is embroiled in a sex scandal after audio of him sharing sensitive information with his Roads and Infrastructure MMC Sheila Senkubuge was leaked on social media.
He is expected to announce Abel Tau as an interim mayor in Tshwane while his fate hangs in the balance.
The odds are stacked against the DA in both metros given the announcement by the party’s former cooperative governance partners, the EFF, that they would no longer be voting with the DA.
Read: ‘Why can’t white man support black man?’ – Malema wants DA to back EFF mayoral candidate
To cement this decision, the EFF announced its caucus leader in the city, Musa Novela, as the party’s candidate to contest the vacant mayoral position.
This has left the ANC – who have 122 seats in council – sitting comfortably as the obvious frontrunner should the EFF stay true to its stance to not vote for either the ANC or the DA.
The ANC has however toiled in its attempts to announce a clear candidate to contest the vacant Johannesburg mayoral position.
ANC Johannesburg regional chairperson, Geoff Makhubo, is the favourite candidate while Nonceba Molwela and Jolidee Matongo are also still in the mix to assume the mayoral candidacy.
In Tshwane, the motion of no confidence depends on the ANC, given that it boasts 89 seats in the Tshwane council in comparison to the EFF’s 25 seats.
EFF leader Julius Malema has also made his distaste for Mokgalapa very evident, saying should the ANC table a motion of no confidence, his party would vote with them.
Should the motion pass, this would mark the end of Mokgalapa’s nine month tenure after he replaced embattled former mayor Solly Msimanga.
It would be a disastrous couple of months should the DA lose out in both metros given the numerous high profile resignations that have also rocked the party. Party leader Mmusi Maimane announced his resignation last month along with federal chairperson Athol Trollip.
Both resignations came hot on the heels of the resignation of Mashaba in protest of Helen Zille’s election to the party.
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