JOHANNESBURG - The Democratic Alliance has alleged that smaller parties were bribed to vote against former Johannesburg mayor, Dr Mpho Phalatse.
Phalatse was ousted in a motion of no confidence in 2023. The vote was brought by African Transformation Movement (ATM) councillor Lubabalo Magwentshu, who argued Phalatse had failed to deliver services to the poor and marginalised people of Johannesburg.
A total of 140 councillors voted in favour of the motion to have Phalatse removed, while 129 voted against it.
Among the parties that voted in favour were the ANC, EFF, Patriotic Alliance (PA), Al Jama-ah and ATM. Those who voted against included ActionSA, the DA, ACDP and FF Plus.
Helen Zille, Johannesburg mayoral candidate, told eNCA on Monday that a former senior official in the City, who had since resigned, blew the whistle on the alleged vote buying.
"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.
Zille claimed the money, which was intended for the refurbishment of Proton House, was sent through in cash to be disbursed to councillors of smaller parties who then voted supported the motion of no confidence against Phalatse.
Without mentioning the political parties that pocketed the alleged bribe, Zille singled out ActionSA as the only party that did not partake in the alleged corruption.
"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."
- This is a developing story