Mayor Cilliers Brink during a media briefing on 30 August 2023 in Pretoria. (Photo: Gallo Images / Beeld / Deaan Vivier) 
The council sitting on Thursday in the City of Tshwane saw the DA’s Cilliers Brink voted out by 120 councillors while 87 voted against the motion of no confidence against him, while one member abstained.
The ANC, EFF and ActionSA occupy 117 seats in the council and were further supported by Good, AIC and DOP.
The City has 14 days to elect a new mayor.
Read more: How the DA’s Cilliers Brink was elected as the City of Tshwane’s executive mayor
ActionSA had decided to ditch the DA and work with the ANC instead, citing the DA’s arrogance as one of the reasons to part ways.
In a statement following Brink’s removal ActionSA mentioned the stark difference between services provided in urban areas versus townships.
“When one looks at the differences between suburban and township communities in Tshwane, the real problem emerges. In suburban communities, 64% of respondents indicated an improvement in service delivery, while in townships this number was as low as 24%,” it said.
“In this shocking statistic lies the problem, that ActionSA found itself in a coalition at the mercy of a mayor from a party who has no discernible constituency in the townships of the city he governed.”
The DA believes it is a blow for residents of Tshwane, arguing that the ANC has no interest in good governance but instead wants to "pillage and steal" from a stabilised government.
“This will no doubt destabilise Tshwane and ActionSA is duly complicit in this power grab. The doomsday coalition has now taken over Tshwane and it will go the same road as Joburg and Ekurhuleni. A future of urban decay and service delivery failure lies ahead for the good citizens of Tshwane,” DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said.
“Good and responsible governance has been sacrificed for a matrimony that will undoubtedly leave the people of Tshwane worse off than ever before. Under the guise of change, ActionSA has broken a coalition that was created to collaborate with integrity, and shared the goal of building a Capital City that works for all of its people.”
Read more: Tshwane's financial rescue mission is far from complete, says Brink
Musical chairs
Previous mayor Randall Williams resigned in February 2023, saying it was for the sake of the stability of the coalition government.
Then the embattled Murunwa Makwarela was voted in, but his tenure as the first citizen of Tshwane was short lived. He was at the centre of controversy after submitting a fake insolvency rehabilitation certificate in a bid to retain the mayorship after being backed by the ANC and EFF for the position.
He resigned and was then booted out by his party, Cope, while being heavily condemned by all political parties, even those that had backed him. DM