Ekurhuleni Council reinstate Tania Campbell as mayor

The Ekurhuleni Metro Council has once again elected Alderwoman Tania Campbell as the Executive Mayor of the City on Tuesday (November 8).

After two Extraordinary Council meetings held a week in succession, the Multi-Party coalition government prevails and has committed to continue their “Back to Basics” programme.

“After two weeks of a political vacuum in the City, I have been re-elected as the Executive Mayor of the City of Ekurhuleni. Those who brought a motion against me did so on frivolous grounds, as was evidenced by my re-election in council today,” the mayor said.

According to Alderwoman Campbell, the motion to get her out of office was ‘to instill panic and chaos while creating a service delivery backlog.’

She has committed to prioritizing the service delivery issues that have piled up since her absence.

“I want to take this opportunity to apologize to the residents of the City who have found themselves in a state of limbo. Work to begin stabilizing the city starts today and my back-to-basics program will be ramped up. I understand and share the frustration of our residents and businesses,” she said.

The mayor also took time to thank the Coalition partners for their dedication and commitment to serving the residents of the City by putting her back on the top seat.

A month earlier, mayor Campbell was removed in a motion of no confidence vote against her administration.

The main opposition party of the Coalition, the African National Congress (ANC), led the motion as they firmly believe that the administration was ‘taking down the City’.

“Despite the unfavorable outcome, the Ekurhuleni ANC Caucus takes pride on its role of being effective in opposition. The motion was successfully tabled in Council and indeed, we were vindicated on our conclusion that the city is in a dire state after the removal of the DA led Executive Mayor Tania Campbell two weeks ago,” explained Alderman Jongizizwe Dlabathi (ANC Whip).

In their work as the opposition, the ANC Caucus have committed to their role in giving strong oversight to the current administration, while working alongside communities.

“Despite the setback, we will not hold back in representing the aspirations of the people even on the opposition side,” said Alderman Dlabathi.

During the extraordinary meeting, the vote for the Mayoral seat was a tightly contested race between Campbell and Dlabathi. Out of 224 votes cast, Ald Campbell received 124 votes and Ald Dlabathi garnered 99 of the votes.

The ANC Caucus has thanked the parties that voted for Dlabathi for their support.

“The manner in which political parties voted did expose the parties that are genuinely on the side of people of Ekurhuleni. The ANC Caucus is firmly on the people of Ekurhuleni, whom under this DA Coalition government will continue to be subjected to the overall state of poor service delivery, especially in our townships.”

“Disappointing as it may be, communities must be assured that our spirit is high and that we are determined to represent them throughout,” Alderman Dlabathi explained.

Solly Msimanga, Leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng has congratulated their own for the re-election.

“This poor attempt at political point scoring has failed and now the multi-party government can continue with the work it is are doing to fix what the ANC broke.

But these political shenanigans have come at a cost. A financial cost and a cost in terms of service delivery. Putting an entire metro on pause while backroom deals are done leaves residents neglected and uncertain as to what will happen next. Now that the ANC and its proxy parties are done playing, we will get back to working for the residents of this fine city,” said Msimanga.