South Africans appear so bitter with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) that they have elected Mpho Phalatse of the main opposition Democratic Alliance as the new Johannesburg mayor for the next five years.
Phalatse got 144 of the 270 possible votes in the city vote, while ANC mayoral candidate Mpho Moerane came in with 121 votes – dealing a huge blow to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s party as it failed to rule the country’s biggest city and its economic hub again.
The DA had Action South Africa party leader Herman Mashaba and the second Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party leader Julius Malema to thank for its victory, Mashaba said.
The former Johannesburg mayor added that a similar victory would be repeated in Pretoria city polls on Tuesday.
“There’s been discussions between us and the EFF to say, ‘Let us support the DA and see what happens.’ What was important to us was to make sure that we do not have an ANC government in all three Gauteng metros (of Johannesburg, Pretoria and Ekurhuleni),” Mashaba said.
“We agreed with the EFF that we will not allow the DA to give this municipality to the ANC. We are proud of our achievement. Now we’ve removed the ANC from government, not only Jo’burg, but in Ekurhuleni, too,” Mashaba said.
In the same election, another DA candidate, Vasco da Gama won the position of city speaker by 29 votes, emerging victorious over the Eunice Mgcina of the ANC.
NM/as/APA