Thapelo Abubark Amad, whose political party enjoys three seats in council has been elected as the new mayor of Johannesburg.
This follows the axing of Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Mpho Phalatse on Thursday through a motion of no confidence.
Amad from Al Jama-ah was elected as the new mayor after receiving 138 votes while Mpho Phalatse received 81 and Funzi Ngobeni from ActionSA received 46 votes.
The 41-year-old’s election was a formality after he was publicly endorsed by the minority parties bloc comprising of the ANC, EFF, AIC, Al Jama-ah, PA and Cope.
Amad’s election comes just hours after the axing of Phalatse through a motion of no confidence on Thursday. The motion which saw Phalatse face the chop was brought by the African Transformation Movement’s (ATM) Lubabalo Nogatshu who argued she’d failed to deliver services to the marginalised and poor residents of Johannesburg.
The DA needed the backing on the Patriotic Alliance to defeat the motion, but negotiations between the two parties collapsed. The PA is said to have demanded two positions on the Mayoral Committee in Johannesburg and MMC positions in the Ekurhuleni metro- which the DA did not agree to.
Amad is poised to serve as “interim mayor” until the ANC and the EFF conclude their negotiations on how to configure their co-governing strategy in the Joburg and Ekurhuleni metros.
In his acceptance speech, Amad said there were five priorities for this new administration: service delivery; finances; administrative reforms; tackling fraud and corruption; and ensuring community participation in the administration.
“Today should mark the day where the coalition parties and opposition parties seek to achieve the most elusive thing in a democratic society: unity and purpose.
“Today, in accepting this responsibility of being the mayor, I bring my soul to this just cause of uniting this council and honouring our oath and the promises to the communities in the City of Johannesburg.”
He will be announcing his executive on Monday morning.
Source: News24. Daily Maverick, Times Live, Al Jazeera, image from Twitter: @YOUFM898