The just reinstated Johannesburg mayor, Democratic Alliance’s Mpho Phalatse, says she cannot work at the office because the locks were changed.
“Unfortunately, I cannot go into my office yet because I’m told the locks have been changed. I don’t have the keys but I have asked my people to sort it out urgently so that the MMCs and myself can go back to work with our teams.”
Phalatse was reinstated after the South Gauteng High Court on Tuesday declared invalid and unlawful Phalatse’s removal through a motion of no confidence and the subsequent election of the ANC’s Dada Morero last month.
“There’s much work, we have started operating remotely and I’ve already had my first mayoral committee last night [Tuesday] to continue with reports discussed at an earlier mayoral committee [meeting] which was disrupted by the court process.
“All hands on deck, nine of the 10 MMCs I was working with are back.”
Phalatse was removed by an ANC-led coalition with the collusion of the EFF and the Patriotic Alliance. The coalition had earlier installed Cope’s Colleen Makhubele as speaker who scheduled a council sitting two days later that removed Phalatse and installed Morero.