This, as the party’s second motion of no confidence against Olly Mlamleli is expected to be debated in council on Tuesday.

The Party’s Mokgadi Kganakga says it is under Mlamleli’s leadership that the municipality has not only become the first metro to be placed under administration but that it was downgraded twice by Moody’s Credit Ratings.

Briefing the media ahead of the Council Sitting, the party’s caucus leader in the Metro, Hardie Viviers, added Mlameli has for years left residents at the periphery without provision of adequate services. 

He told OFM News they are confident councillors, including those in the ANC Caucus, will vote with them against Mlamleli, should Speaker Mxolisi Siyonzana allow for a secret ballot.

Viviers says in previous years, ANC councillors could not openly vote against Mlamleli in fear of victimisation and that they are confident Mlamleli will vacate office should a secret ballot be allowed.

He alludes that the party’s first motion against Mlamleli was tabled last year in May, but thrown out on the basis that it was vague, despite the municipality failing to provide residents with basic services.

“There is definitely a faction within the ANC with some of the councillors not happy with what is going on like the rest of us and would certainly vote with us, given that their identities would be protected through a secret ballot. Councillors are all accountable to communities and we are of the view that cleaning the house and getting the metro in order is the first step to achieving that. So, we are really hopeful that the voting will be through a secret ballot and that we will succeed in getting Mlamleli out of office, explained the party's Dirk Kotze.

The party’s Chief Whip Johan Pretorius highlighted that their motion of no confidence also comes at the backdrop of a damning report by the Auditor-General, which indicated that financial transgressions and a lack of consequence management are on the rise in the metro.

The council sitting will take place at the Bram Fischer Building on Tuesday at 14:00.

OFM News