Pretoria – Ousted Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse said she was removed from her position to allow the ANC to access the R77.7 billion budget and continue to advance corruption.
Phalatse, who insisted she was still the mayor, said she would not let the ANC take the mayoral position and ruin everything the DA had built during her time as mayor.
“I will not allow the coalition of corruption to simply waltz back in and undo everything we’ve accomplished here.
“Some have said, ‘why bother?’ Some have accused me of wanting to keep power. Not so. For me, it is about serving the people, not power,” said Phalatse.
Phalatse was speaking on Wednesday during a short media briefing which was aired on social media.
Phalatse was removed from office in terms of Section 58 of the Local Government Act. The ANC’s Dada Morero has since taken over as mayor.
“I will continue to fight with and for the people of Johannesburg, and the next round of that fight is our court application to have last Friday’s sham council sitting declared unlawful.
“The sitting, rushed through by the new speaker, Colleen Makhubele, in order to vote me out of office before a court could stop her, was irregular and unlawful and we are confident that the court ruling will confirm this,’’ Phalatse added.
Phalatse said she was not surprised that the ANC used “dishonest” means to regain power of the metro.
This had to be done in order order to access “its biggest cash cow” the R77.7bn budget meant for the city.
“And we know from experience elsewhere that they are more than willing to buy the help of smaller parties or rogue individuals when the margins are close and they only need a few votes.”
She said they used the same tactic in 2018 when they removed Athol Trollip as mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay.
“They did this to make way of corruption.”
Phalatse asked the public to support the party’s return to leading position and promised that the DA would never betray their trust.
“Everything that drove us to want to govern in Johannesburg is still there and still valid.”
Phalatse has launched a court bid to overturn the council meeting that voted to oust her last week Friday.
Phalatse wants the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to declare unlawful, unconstitutional, invalid and set aside the decision taken by council speaker Makhubele to schedule an extraordinary meeting of council where the decision to remove her through a motion of no confidence was adopted.
The matter will be heard on October 11.
IOL