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While the EFF puppet mayor, Ald Sivuyile Ngodwana, was still not removed through a Motion of No Confidence, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) still believes that only fresh elections can save the city.

We tabled an amendment to the futile Motion of No Confidence and called for council to be dissolved in order to have fresh elections, where residents can vote for a renewed mandate.

This amendment was vetoed, and used as a reason to end the meeting by speaker Nthabiseng Tshivenga. Her so-called call to seek legal advice on the matter is a desperate attempt to avoid the MoNC from being voted on by council. What we have seen today is a party desperate to cling to power, the CoE is turning into a national disgrace.

This is now the third Motion of No Confidence since the start of the new political term, and will certainly not be the last. So, while political parties play cowboy politics and gamble with service delivery and peoples’ livelihoods, the DA remains steadfast in calling for fresh elections in order for residents to decide who should govern.

Let the people decide!

The fact is, once the MoNC passed, if the new Executive includes the ANC or the EFF or both, the looting will continue, and service delivery will remain in freefall.

The unabated collapse of service delivery under the watch of the ANC/EFF coalition, coupled with prolonged water outages, failing electrical infrastructure and the dysfunctionality of council has become the norm of the day.

We need to invoke Section 34 of the Municipal Structures Act which allows the municipal council to dissolve itself at a meeting called for this purpose and by adopting a resolution to dissolve council as backed by two-thirds of the councillors.

The alliance of the ANC/EFF has resulted in the collapse of the municipality and service delivery. The council today, had the opportunity to put the needs of the residents first, ahead of their own. The EFF speaker has stood in the way of that, and will continue to cling to power as long as possible.

The DA stands by our decision and calls for council to be dissolved!

Issued by DA Caucus Leader in the City of Ekurhuleni Ald Tania Campbell