Joburg council votes to elect speaker

The battle for control of Johannesburg metro has begun with the election of a council speaker but this was soon halted. Picture: Thabiso Thakali

The battle for control of Johannesburg metro has begun with the election of a council speaker but this was soon halted. Picture: Thabiso Thakali

Published Aug 22, 2016

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Johannesburg – The battle for control of Johannesburg metro has begun with the election of a council speaker on Monday but the process has ground to a halt.

Incumbent speaker Constance Bapela was up against the former chairman of the Democratic Alliance’s Johannesburg caucus, Vasco da Gama, as the highly charged council sitting continued on Monday.

Earlier members of the Economic Freedom Fighters broke into song and clapped during a short break to allow the IEC to set up for the secret vote.

On the other side of the hall, the DA members made the change sign with their hands in the direction of ANC caucus members who were singing and dancing jubilantly.

A little later voting for the speaker was halted because some councillors showed their votes before putting it in the box, to which the IEC objected. The IEC says that ballots have to be secret but the EFF has said they can do what they like with their votes.

Voting began again after some deliberations on the stage, but soon ground to halt again.

The DA has said it is confident of victory in Johannesburg, after it garnered support from opposition parties, notably the EFF whose number of votes translated into 30 council seats.

However, the outcome of the Rustenburg council sitting, at which the Forum 4 Service Delivery (F4SD) was certain of toppling the ANC, showed that a vote could go either way.

The ANC retained Rustenburg on Friday, sending shockwaves through the ranks of the opposition.

African News Agency and IOL

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