DA prepared to govern Joburg with or without coalition partners - mayoral candidate Mpho Phalatse

DA mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg Mpho Phalatse has declared her readiness to lead the city with or without coalition partners. File picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

DA mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg Mpho Phalatse has declared her readiness to lead the city with or without coalition partners. File picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

Published Sep 19, 2021

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DA mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg Mpho Phalatse has declared her readiness to lead the city with or without coalition partners.

Speaking during a visit to various voting registration stations ahead of local government elections on November 1, Phalatse said that while her party wanted an outright win, she would consider a coalition government, pending the outcome of the elections.

She did not name any possible partners, but emphasised that the people of Johannesburg needed a stable government.

Phalatse said the primary objective of her tour of registration stations was to gauge the turnout of first time voters, including those who have relocated to new addresses.

However, there was not a lot of activity at most of the stations she visited, which Phalatse attributed to voter apathy as a result of poor service delivery to Johannesburg residents.

“Among those people are those that are not interested in voting. Others stay away from voting due to poor service delivery. It is unfortunate. It is for that reason that the DA has established a war room. We have call centre agents who are contacting voters and assisting them to register online. We are hopeful that this will increase the number of voters come election day,” Phalatse said.

She said her party’s war room has helped a number of voters, and that might be a reason for the low turnout on Sunday.

Phalatse also said that the Electoral Commission’s (IEC) recent technical glitches, which continued on Sunday, had also worsened the situation.

She said she was concerned about a very low turnout in Soweto, but was happy that in places such as Roodepoort, Alexandra and Houghton greater numbers of people were visiting the stations to verify their details. She said her party had visited and campaigned in all seven regions of the City.

Dressed in black for her visit, Phalatse said she was mourning the death of Johannesburg mayor Jolidee Matongo, who was killed in a car crash on Saturday.

POLITICAL BUREAU