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Stadsraad sal nuwe burgemeester binne 14 dae kies
Former Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink has lost a vote of no confidence against him after three months of contentious discussions regarding his suitability for the position. Brink faced the third motion on September 26 after two previous motions in July and August were not voted on due to procedural and legal reasons.
ANC city councilor Frans Boshielo stated that the motion was initiated due to the metro’s R6 billion debt to Eskom and R15 million to Rand Water, delays in pension fund payments, unnecessary expenses on new appointments, and the late submission of five quarterly audit performance committee reports.
Following Brink’s removal from office, the city will be temporarily led by Deputy Mayor Dr. Nasiphi Moya until a new mayor can be appointed.
Moya was elected to the position of deputy mayor on January 18 this year during a special council meeting.
Speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana mentioned in a letter that Moya will exercise the powers and functions of the executive mayor’s office.
Spokesperson for the Speaker’s office, Sthembiso Sithole, clarified that the election must take place within 14 days from Thursday’s council meeting.
During Thursday’s meeting, councilors debated the motion before the vote took place just before 3:00 PM: 120 councilors supported the motion, while 87 councilors voted against it, and one abstained.
During the debate, DA and Freedom Front Plus councilors highlighted the work done under Brink’s coalition government since he assumed the mayor’s office on March 28, 2023.
Members of the council from ActionSA, EFF, ANC, and the PA presented their arguments in line with the reasons stated in Boshielo’s motion of no confidence.
The motion follows weeks of conflict and public discussions among Brink’s coalition partners before ActionSA formally exited the coalition on September 14.
Brink attended a press briefing on Friday with former council members of his party and the provincial leader of the DA, Solly Msimanga.
Msimanga stated their commitment to fighting for the residents of Tshwane and announced that they would present Brink as a candidate for re-election.
“We are emotionally invested and will not easily let go of the city,” he said.
He pledged to ensure that senior managers are not victimized or dismissed and to complete the Hammanskraal water project while taking disciplinary action against officials in the case of the Rooiwal sewage plant.
Brink arrived with a fighting spirit before the start of the council meeting on Thursday morning.
“I came to this office every day with a sense of optimism. I feel very privileged to serve the people of the capital, to guide us towards financial recovery, energy independence, and eventually improve service delivery.”
ANC provincial secretary, Thembinkosi Nciza, welcomed Brink’s removal.
“The motion, supported by the majority of councilors, was sponsored by the ANC caucus as a mechanism to rescue the municipality from the mismanagement of the multiparty government under the DA. The DA has led the city down a destructive path of regression and reversal of the gains of our hard-won democracy,” he said.
He added that since the DA’s multiparty government took office in 2016, it reversed the work undertaken by the coalition government under the ANC that preceded it.
“While the latter adopted a pro-poor ideology aimed at improving the lives of poor people in the city, with formal and informal settlements specifically targeted for development projects, the multiparty government under the DA took the position to sideline poor people.”
“Under the multiparty government led by the DA, the municipality experienced unprecedented governance instability. In the past eight years alone, the DA has had five mayors, all of whom shamefully left their office, including mayoral committees that were reshuffled several times.”
He stated that new leadership can now emerge to advocate for the interests of Tshwane’s people.
ActionSA’s Gauteng chairperson, Funzi Ngobeni, welcomed the removal of an “average DA mayor.”
“The decisive step taken today marks the end of a failed eight-year reign of the DA in Tshwane,” Ngobeni said.
“It is precisely because we were part of mediocre governance that we feel compelled to act in the interests of those who deserve it, that is, all residents of Tshwane.”
He mentioned that the party has been in power since 2016 and that service delivery has declined according to residents since then, especially in townships compared to urban areas.
“For this reason, and many others, ActionSA councilors in Tshwane joined hands with the ANC and other parties to vote out the DA’s executive mayor Brink, and we will join hands again within 14 days to appoint the new executive mayor.”
DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga described the motion as the final blow to good governance in Tshwane.
“Today (September 26) will be recorded in history as the day a complete traitor sank a functional government, thereby exchanging stability for chaos,” he said.
He blamed ActionSA for handing power over to the ANC.
“The judgment-day coalition has now taken over Tshwane and will follow the same path as Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni. A future of urban decay and service delivery failure awaits the good citizens of Tshwane,” he said.
He mentioned that the DA would closely monitor the situation.
“The people of Tshwane deserve better than the instability caused by ego-driven individuals who, by betraying them, have also betrayed South Africa,” he said.
“The DA caucus will take our place with pride as the official opposition in Tshwane. We will hold the broken administration accountable.”
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