Mayor Campbell is voted back
Mayor Campbell promises to improve services in Ekurhuleni.
Kwatsaduza – The ousted mayor of Ekurhleni Tania Campbell was re-elected as mayor on Tuesday. This after she was voted out in a motion of no confidence tabled by the ANC three weeks ago.
The elections were filled with drama with the ANC and the EFF refusing to meet each other halfway during their negotiations.
Last week Wednesday, the elections had to be postponed as the two parties delayed the seating with caucus meetings.
Speculations are that the EFF and the ANC negotiations collapsed with the two parties refusing to meet each other halfway.
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It is alleged the EFF wanted the ANC to vote with them during the elections but wanted the position of mayor and full leadership of the metro without any coalition with other parties.
During the nomination, the DA nominated Campbell and the EFF nominated the chairperson of EFF in Gauteng, Nkululeko Dunga.
As soon as the ANC announced their candidate, the EFF’s nominee withdrew his nomination from the list.
Dunga cited that it would be pointless to contest when two other main opposition parties are already contesting the elections.
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The ANC chairperson in Ekurhuleni, Mzwandile Masina, said they negotiated with seven political parties to form a coalition government but they could not agree on the terms.
“We then decided to field our mayoral candidate, Jongizizwa Dlabathi. Unfortunately, we lost but we lost with our pride and dignity still intact, we refused to be dictated by any political party to compromise our principles,” he said.
He added that they accept and support the re-election of Campbell but if the balance of forces changes, they will put a motion of no confidence.
After she was elected, Campbell told the media that those who brought a motion against her did so on frivolous grounds, as was evidenced by her re-election.
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“All that the motion has achieved is to instil panic and chaos while creating a service delivery backlog, which I aim to tackle with immediate effect.
“Work to begin stabilising the city starts today and my back-to-basics programme will be ramped up,” she explained.
The mayor added that she will be evaluating work from different departments and those with a wasteful budget funds will be directed to the waste collection backlog.
The DA leader in the council, Solly Msimanga, said they will be meeting with all the political parties in the multi-coalition party to iron out the grievances they raised in the media.
