Africa-Press – South-Africa. Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda will face a motion of no confidence next week.
Gwamanda has been serving since April, when Thapelo Amad, his colleague from Al Jama-ah, resigned a day before a motion of no confidence was brought against him. Amad had been serving since January.
ActionSA brought the motion after a criminal case was opened against Gwamanda for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded Soweto residents.
His Ithemba Lama Afrika funeral business allegedly saw him posing as a financial service provider.
On Tuesday, the motion was passed for council to consider the matter.
It’s expected that the motion will be heard between Tuesday and Thursday next week.
ActionSA Joburg caucus leader Nobuhle Mthembu said a motivation for the motion was sent to the planning committee in June.
“The executive mayor has corruption charges against him. He was running a funeral scheme without being registered. We don’t believe he is an ethical leader. How can he be responsible for an R80.9 billion city budget?
“The mayor is not fit for business. MMC for Economic Development Nomoya Mnisi is also accused [of trying to get the City of Johannesburg to pay for an ANC Youth League event]. It shows what calibre of leadership we have in the City,” she said.
Al Jama-ah leader Ganief Hendricks said Gwamanda had done an excellent job so far and that the senior City leaders were happy with his work as mayor.
“The complaint is that the mayor operated a Ponzi scheme. In those days, you were allowed to have stokvels and you didn’t have to have a permit.
“It was 11 years ago. How can you hold a mayor to account for something that was done when he was young?
“He helped people [through the business] and, when it came to elections, the same people he is accused of stealing from voted for him.”
For the mayor to be ousted, the Multi-Party Charter, formerly the Moonshot Pact will need to have a majority vote.
However, the Patriotic Alliance (PA) says it has not joined the charter.
The party denied rumours that it had a meeting with the charter on Tuesday night.
“There is absolutely no truth that the PA has joined the Moonshot Pact. Action SA and the Freedom Front Plus leaders are engaging us, but the DA leader has stated very clearly that they don’t want the PA as part of the Moonshot Pact. We are not a party of beggars.
“We have also never asked to be included in the Moonshot Pact, we merely said that we shall consider it if invited, but John Steenhuisen showed us that we are not welcome,” the party said.
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