ActionSA on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) Council Programming Committee for placing its Motion of No Confidence against Joburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda on the agenda.

The motion will be tabled at the next Ordinary Council meeting set to take place on August 31.

ActionSA CoJ caucus leader Nobuhle Mthembu alleges that this comes after weeks of delays by CoJ Speaker Colleen Makhubele to protect the “fragile" African National Congress-Economic Freedom Fighters (ANC-EFF) coalition.

ActionSA maintains that Gwamanda is a “puppet mayor” who does the bidding of the ANC-EFF coalition.

“This was proven correct over and over again as the ANC-EFF coalition shielded Gwamanda from media enquiries, and Gwamanda was side-lined by Premier Panyaza Lesufi when the Johannesburg explosion took place,” she said.

Mthembu noted that with a budget close to a "whopping R80-billion", the City of Johannesburg needed a credible leader at its helm, adding that ActionSA believed it was in the best interests of Johannesburg residents that the municipality’s executive leadership was beyond reproach.

She explained that Gwamanda had also repeatedly shielded his own executive when they were found to be overreaching. She was referring to Economic Development MMC Nomoya Mnisi remaining in office despite allegations that she directed a city entity to pay the ANC Youth League close to a million rand.

ActionSA said it will continue discussions with political parties represented in the city council to put the interest of residents first.