Battle over Jozi council continues

ANC members want former speaker Margaret Arnolds to return after the incumbent was ousted

- Lunga Mzangwe

The ANC regional task team will meet on Sunday to decide who will fill the vacant Johannesburg council speaker position, after the removal of ActionSA’s Nobuhle Mthembu on Wednesday.

A source in the regional task team said the party may consider former speaker and MMC for finance Margaret Arnolds of the African Independent Congress for the position.

If Arnolds accepted the speaker position, this would return the crucial finance MMC portfolio to the ANC, a position it held before Dada Morero was elected mayor.

“This would mean that we take Margaret back to her position — it would basically be a swop because she was doing well in that role,” the source said.

It is understood that acting city manager Thsepo Mokola will convene a council sitting next Wednesday to elect a new speaker.

On Wednesday, Morero survived a motion of no confidence tabled by the Democratic Alliance (DA); Mthembu was removed following a motion from Al Jama-ah.

Of the councillors present on Wednesday, 144 voted in favour of Morero, 75 against, and 43 abstained. For the speaker, 212 voted to remove Mthembu, and 48 opposed the motion.

For the first time in council, the ANC voted with the DA to remove Mthembu, a speaker they voted for during her election.

ANC council chief whip Sithembiso Zungu also survived a motion of no confidence.