VEREENIGING.- A motion of no confidence in the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) Executive Mayor, Sipho Radebe that was put forward by the FF+ during a Council Sitting failed on Wednesday.

The FF+, supported by other oposition parties received 41 votes from the total of 89 councillors that voted in a secret ballot. The ANC, assisted by coalition parties came out with 47 of the votes. One ballot paper was reported to have been spoiled. Responding to the motion being put forward the ELM said that Radebe wishes to thank all the councilors who attended the Council meeting, “and demonstrated their commitment to promote good governance and the stability of Emfuleni Local municipality.”

The municipality said that the Freedom Front+ (FF+) was joined by the ‘desperate opposition parties’ to support an ill-fated motion of no confidence against Radebe and the ELM coalition government.

“The fact that the motion in question is a copy and paste from the one table in the Mangaung Metro Council on the 13 July 2020, undermines the intelligence of our electorate and that of the people of our country in particular the people of Emfuleni. It was the view of the Executive Mayor that the Freedom Front(FF+)motion is baseless, opportunistic, and confirms the racist and colonial agenda against a democratically elected and stable ANC-led coalition government. It must be noted that it is hardly six months after the election of the Executive Mayor after the last local government elections that took place on the 1st November 2022. This frivolous motion was supported as expected by the racist Democratic Alliance (DA) and the ever-divisive and confused Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF),” said ELM Spokesperson, Lebo Mofokeng.