Raymond Dhlamini will no longer occupy the position of Speaker of the Ekurhuleni City Council. This is as 139 Council members voted in favour of his removal through a motion of no-confidence yesterday, in comparison to 70 who rejected it.

With the previous Council sitting having resulted in his removal and an interim Speaker appointed in the meantime, Dhlamini took the matter to court and saw himself reinstated as Speaker last week. 

This however was short-lived, as the Super Seven, consisting of the main members: the African National Congress (ANC), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), and Patriotic Alliance (PA), were insistent that Dhlamini would be voted out in a motion of no-confidence.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) led coalition saw very little good yesterday, with the ousting of its Speaker only serving as one of its anti-climatic moments. The party also saw its Midterm Adjustment Budget rejected through a vote in Council.

With Raymond Dhlamini no longer occupying the position of Speaker, the EFF’s Nthabiseng Tshivhenga has been elected as acting speaker for the council once again.

The unspoken strategy of the EFF and its coalition seems to be taking shape, with the next order of business being the removal of Tania Campbell as the mayor of Ekurhuleni, to occupy that position as well.