Democratic Alliance (DA) member Tania Campbell has been re-elected as the executive mayor of the Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality.
Tania Campbell was reinstated on Tuesday as mayor of Ekurhuleni, beating the African National Congress’s (ANC) Jongizizwe Dlabathi.
The City of Ekurhuleni held its extraordinary council meeting on Tuesday after the collapse of the previous sitting.
The metro had been without a leader for over two weeks following Campbell’s removal through an ANC-sponsored motion of no confidence on 26 October.
Tania Campbell received 124 votes out of 224 votes to return to the helm, while Dlabathi only managed to secure 99 of the votes casted.
Campbell was voted out of office through a motion of no confidence last month.
Talks between the ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) failed, with the ANC’s provincial executive committee in Gauteng rejecting a proposal this morning for the election of an EFF mayor in the city.
Nkululeko Dunga, the EFF Gauteng chairperson and caucus leader in Ekurhuleni withdrew from the mayoral race.
Explaining why he withdrew, Dunga said the EFF was not obsessed with power.
“We looked at the conditions and remember the EFF is not obsessed with power…what we are obsessed about is that there must be a constitution of government, a government of majority and a government that will deliver effective services to our people,” he told the media at the Civic Centre Council Chambers in Germiston.
The ANC’s motion of no confidence by the region went against the provincial leadership of the ANC, which had instructed regional chair Mzwandile Masina to withdraw the motion.
Last week former mayor of Ekurhuleni Mzwandile Masina also pulled out from the contest for the mayoral position, saying he had already served his five-year-term.
Source: News24, ENCA, The Citizen, Eyewitness News, image from Twitter: @Our_DA