Joburg Mayor Phalatse appoints multi-party coalition executive

13th December 2021 By: News24Wire

Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse has finalised her mayoral committee, with the DA only securing four seats on the 10-seat mayoral committee. 

Phalatse's executive committee was announced on Monday following weeks of coalition negotiations between the DA and other political parties. 

In an indication of how tough the negotiations were, the DA only managed to secure four seats.

The remainder of the six mayco seats have been divided among other political parties, with ActionSA securing three seats. The ACDP, Freedom Front Plus and the IFP each secured one seat. 

The composition of the executive:

Finance - Julie Suddaby (DA) 

Group Corporate and Shared Services - Leah Knott (DA)

Transport - Funzela Ngobeni (ActionSA) 

Development Planning - Belinda Echeozonjoku (DA)

Housing - Mlungisi Providence Mabaso (IFP)

Economic Development - Nkuli Mbundu (ActionSA) 

Health and Social Development - Franco De Lange (FF+) 

Community Development - Ronald Winston Harris (ACDP)

Environment and Infrastructure Service Delivery - Michael Sun (DA)

Public Safety - David Thembe (ActionSA)

Phalatse said this was a multi-party majority coalition government with 136 seats in the council, enough to pass legislation. 

In defending the decision to negotiate a coalition, Phalatse said all political parties involved had their interests, which influenced the direction of negotiations. 

Phalatse said the coalition was a 10-party agreement, but that not all political parties had been awarded positions.

She said the city's council had over 10 chairperson positions, which were likely to be awarded to other political parties. 

Johannesburg is the latest hung metro finalised after Ekurhuleni Mayor Tania Campbell appointed her committee on 11 December. 

Tshwane remains the only metro in the province yet to finalise a coalition agreement.