The Democratic Alliance (DA) has alleged that councillors from smaller political parties were bribed to support the motion of no confidence that removed former Johannesburg mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse from office in 2023.
Phalatse was ousted after a motion brought by African Transformation Movement (ATM) councillor Lubabalo Magwentshu, who accused her administration of failing to adequately deliver services to poor and marginalised communities in Johannesburg.
The motion succeeded with 140 councillors voting in favour of her removal and 129 voting against it. Parties that supported the motion included the ANC, EFF, Patriotic Alliance (PA), Al Jama-ah and ATM, while ActionSA, the DA, ACDP and FF Plus voted to keep Phalatse in office.
Speaking to eNCA on Monday, DA Federal Council Chairperson and Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille claimed that a former senior City of Johannesburg official, who has since resigned, revealed details of an alleged vote-buying scheme.
“We are fully convinced that this is true because it was backed up by other statements around people having seen money change hands,” Zille said.
According to Zille, funds earmarked for the refurbishment of Proton House were allegedly withdrawn in cash and distributed to councillors from smaller political parties in exchange for their support of the motion of no confidence.
While she declined to identify the parties or individuals allegedly involved, Zille said several political parties benefited from the alleged scheme.
“I’m not going to name names here because I don’t know the exact names of people that were in office at that time. There was a whole range of political parties, but ActionSA did not partake in this,” she said.
The allegations have yet to be independently verified and no evidence has been publicly presented to substantiate the claims.
The matter is expected to attract significant political attention as calls grow for further investigation into the circumstances surrounding Phalatse’s removal from office.
This is a developing story.