Pretoria – The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Cilliers Brink has been removed as Mayor of Tshwane in a joint effort vote that included the African National Congress (ANC) and its former foe ActionSA.
Commenting on the matter, the ANC in Gauteng said it “welcomes the removal of the DA Mayor, Celliers Brink, through a motion of no confidence that was passed by the City of Tshwane council today”.
The ANC added: “The motion, which was supported by the majority of the Council, was sponsored by the ANC Caucus as a mechanism of rescuing the municipality from the maladministration of the DA-led multiparty government which for the past eight years has led the city through a destructive path of regress and reversal of the gains of our hard-won democracy.”
Giving reasons for removing Brink as mayor – whom some considered the right person for the job – Herman Mashaba, the leader of ActionSA said: “We acted on the basis of being afraid of being stabbed in the back. I will never, as Herman Mashaba, be in the same house with someone who is prepared to kill me and wait for that person to kill me afterwards”.
Before the vote of no confidence, Brink, credited by some Tshwane residents for turning around the city’s poor service delivery, said he was in a “fighting mood” to hang on to the Mayoral chains.
However, the vote went against him.
Mashaba said Tshwane Deputy Mayor Dr. Nasiphi Moya, a member of ActionSA, was the best candidate to replace Brink.
However, the ANC said the matter of who takes over had not yet been finalised.
The Economic Freedom Fighters party said it “welcomes the successful vote of no confidence” that ousted Brink saying, “a decisive majority of Councillors voted for the removal of Brink due to his incompetence and arrogance as the mayor of the capital city”.
