Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga has conceded that he was taken by surprise by the motion of no confidence tabled against him by the EFF during last week's council sitting in Pretoria.
“This is because I felt like we were always engaging (with the EFF),” Msimanga said.
He spoke to the Pretoria News on Monday during the DA’s electioneering campaign in Atteridgeville ahead of the 2019 national and provincial elections.
Msimanga interacted with residents in the township about their grievances regarding service delivery issues.
Commenting about the ANC's motion of no confidence against him, he said: “With the ANC I knew that new ANC regional chairperson Dr Kgosi Maepa wanted to use something to be introduced in council.
"I doubt if they were serious about it. If they were serious about it they would have gone to council and debated their motion.”
Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga interacts with residents in Atteridgeville as part of the DA's electioneering campaign ahead of the 2019 national elections. Video: Rapula Moatshe
The ANC motion lapsed after the majority of councillors staged a walkout while council speaker Katlego Mathebe was about to allow councillors to discuss it.
The EFF motion, on the other hand, was declared invalid by Mathebe because it was devoid of a written motivation as required by council rules.
He said the visit to the township marked the first leg of the DA’s listening tour to gather the general sentiment about service delivery in general from the people.
“Young people were talking about us opening more economic opportunities for them.
"This is one of the things that we have been picking up from the people as we are doing the first leg of the listening tour.
"We will continue to listen as we will be putting our manifesto together based on what the people have raised with us,” Msimanga said.