Ex-Joburg Mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse Files Court Papers to Get Her Job, ActionSA Takes a Break From DA

• Democratic Alliance leader in Gauteng, Dr Mpho Phalatse, has filed court papers in an attempt to get her job back
• The former Joburg mayor wants the court to declare last week's council sitting unlawful so she can be reinstated
• ActionSA has decided to take a break from the DA and believes a similar showdown will happen in Ekurhuleni

JOHANNESBURG - The former City of Johannesburg executive mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse is refusing to take her ousting lying down. After failing to get an urgent court interdict to stop last week's council sitting, Phalatse filed court papers on Monday, 3 October, in an attempt to overturn the meeting.

Phalatse wants the court to declare the meeting unlawful and also wants the newly-elected mayor Dada Morero removed from office so she can be reinstated.

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According to News24, Phalatse filed a court application at the Gauteng High Court and called Friday's council meeting unlawful and unconstitutional.

The former mayor stated that the Joburg speaker Colleen Makhubele did not give councillors enough notice by calling an extraordinary council meeting. Therefore, Makhubele contravened the municipal legislation for political motives.

The court application will be heard on Tuesday, 11 October.

ActionSA decides to take a break from the Democratic Alliance

The relationship between the Democratic Alliance and ActionSA has deeply soured. Both political organisations blame each other for the outcome at the Joburg council meeting on Friday, 30 September.

According to EWN, ActionSA recently stated that it needed to take a step back from the DA after the party accused it of being responsible for the breakdown in the multi-party coalition.

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ActionSA's Gauteng provincial chairperson, Bongani Baloyi, accused the DA of protecting Western Cape interests. He added that the DA would have done everything possible to ensure stability if Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis had been in the same position.

Baloyi, who is a former member and leader in the DA, added that had the circumstances been different, the DA would have not hesitated to give the speaker of Joburg position to an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) councillor.

ActionSA predicts that the DA will lose power in the City of Ekhurleni and will review its coalition agreement. ActionSA also stated that they could help Phalatse keep her job because her hands were also tied.

South Africans weigh in

South Africans believe there is a slim chance Phalatse will win her court case. Some people added that even if she did win, she would still get unseated as the mayor.

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Here are some comments below:

@Craig_Ngidi said:

"Please update your BIO the same way the people you fired updated their CVs. Thanks, bye."

@Kenosi61034956 said:

"I doubt you’l win. Quorum is the issue true. But you also need the support of abstained votes/parties to substantiate your claims.DA can’t treat coalition agreements as if buy & sell. Spirit of agreements is “good faith”/GF by all parties. DA failed the test of GF."

@Dee0015_ said:

"The votes to unseat you were not only from ANC, and the votes made 50+1, do you really believe such numbers will change should there be a second round to unseat you? Please go practice medicine, the country is short of doctors."

Ex-Joburg mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse files court papers to get her job, ActionSA takes a break from the DA

Briefly News previously reported that DA leader John Steenhuisen has announced that the party will be taking to the court of law to contest the ousting of Mpho Phalatse as the Mayor of Johannesburg.

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He said not only is Phalatse's removal unlawful, but it also shows the ANC's desperation to have access to the R76 billion that was allocated to the city.

According to News24, Steenhuisen made these comments during an address on the DA YouTube platform. He added that he mentioned a few weeks ago that something was brewing.

Source: Briefly News