Joburg speaker threatens court action over job

EMBATTLED Joburg City Council Speaker Vasco da Gama has threatened the council with court action as it prepares to elect his successor this week.

This after Joburg city manager Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni notified councillors yesterday to attend an extra-ordinary council meeting on Wednesday to elect a new speaker.

Lukhwareni’s convening of the council comes as newly elected mayor Geoff Makhubo and MEC for Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Lebogang Maile declared a vacancy for the speaker position.

Last week, the DA blocked the ANC’s motion of no confidence against Da Gama despite the majority of councillors supporting the motion.

The DA’s Alex Christians, who chaired the meeting, rejected the motion and called off the meeting after disagreements over the interpretation of what constitutes a majority vote.

The ANC, however, said it regarded the meeting as having removed Da Gama with 135 of the 264 councillors voting for his removal while 99 voted against his removal and the 30 EFF councillors abstained.

Da Gama said yesterday that he was still the legitimate speaker.

“My understanding of the position is that I am still the speaker. They must follow the proper procedures to ensure that the right thing is done.”

He accused Makhubo and Maile of arbitrarily pushing for his replacement, adding that Wednesday’s meeting could not be called without his permission.