Mpho Phalatse mayor again

“I’m back!” said a relieved Dr Mpho Phalatse, a good friend of the community, who was this week reinstated as mayor of Johannesburg after high drama in the courts following her shocking and dramatic ousting last month.

On Tuesday, 25 October, the Gauteng High Court declared unlawful, unconstitutional, and invalid her removal as mayor of the country’s economic hub of six million people, and the subsequent election of the African National Congress (ANC’s) Dada Morero.

Morero is on record as saying that Israel is “more extreme than the South African apartheid experience” and other anti-Israel comments in a bid to garner political points.

The Gauteng High Court declared the motion of no confidence which pushed Phalatse out to be unconstitutional and invalid.

Judge Raylene Keightley agreed with Phalatse that the case was urgent, and reinstated her. Morero’s election as mayor by the council was declared unlawful, unconstitutional, and invalid by the court, and he stepped down after a mere 25 days in office. Consequently, all decisions taken by him have been set aside, said Keightley.

Though this has been celebrated as a victory for the Democratic Alliance (DA), it’s a tenuous one as the ANC prepares to bring another motion of no confidence against her. As the city is governed by a minority government, it all comes down to numbers and strengthening the multiparty coalition which presently hangs by a thread after the Patriotic Alliance (PA) moved over to the ANC.

Phalatse wasted no time getting back to work with partners in the coalition to seek ways to strengthen it.

Speaking to the SA Jewish Report on Wednesday, 26 October, she said, “I have already held my first mayoral committee meeting. Nine of the 10 MMCs [members of the mayoral committee] are back in their portfolios. We have unfortunately had to let the PA MMC go, so there’s one vacancy,” which will assist in negotiations with parties going forward.

From the moment Phalatse was nominated by the DA as a mayoral candidate, she has been heckled by detractors hell-bent on seeing her demise, often using her past remarks about Israel as a political smokescreen to oust her and power up party seats.

In 2018, Phalatse found herself suspended from her role as MMC for health and social development by then Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba after she publicly declared support for Israel during a South African Friends of Israel conference. She has consistently expressed the DA’s belief “in a two-state solution, in human rights for all, and for peaceful coexistence”.

At the time of her mayoral nomination, Africa4Palestine posted a warning to its followers on Facebook, saying, “Spoiler alert!!! Apartheid Israel sympathiser running for mayor in Johannesburg South Africa is approaching local government elections – voters, take note!!”

When she delivered her mayoral acceptance speech last year as the city’s first woman in the position, a rowdy group of chanting ANC councillors were hell-bent on intimidating and harassing her, demanding that she withdraw the pro-Israel comments made more than three years prior. Her opponents persistently wear Palestinian keffiyeh at council meetings and brandish placards with pro-Palestinian slogans.

They have been at it again since she was unlawfully ousted as mayor with comments online. One comment said, “She was an unrepentant supporter of apartheid Israel. Good riddance”; another post called her “The Israel apartheid Zionist canary bird”, and another called her the “queen of darkness”.

She’s not bothered by these comments, Phalatse told the SA Jewish Report. “It hasn’t played out much in council lately, and honestly I’m over it,” she said. “I think everyone has moved on. My focus is on service delivery.

“I made a vow to the residents of Johannesburg that I would deliver services to them through a government that was stable, that was for them, and that was anti-corruption, and this remains my focus,” she said.

“It’s propaganda, it’s politics much like many other things that get said about me. For instance, in the past few weeks, it’s been said that I’m desperate, that I don’t want to let go of the mayorship as though the fight was about the title and the position as opposed to it being about rendering services to people and saving a city in desperate need of help. So much gets said in the political space, and you grow a thick skin.”

Meanwhile the community has expressed its approval of her reinstatement. Benji Shulman, the director of public policy at the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) said, “Dr Phalatse is on record for support for Israel, as are a number of her coalition partners in the city. In spite of the fact that the new ANC coalition hasn’t yet commented on Israel, previous administrations called for Sandton Drive to be renamed after a terrorist, Leila Khaled. Furthermore, the ANC coalition regularly abuses council time by shouting anti-Israel rhetoric. It also has within it parties such as Al Jama-ah, which have a history of indulging in anti-Israel conspiracy theories.

“The SAZF calls on all coalitions to take seriously their obligations to service delivery for residents. We encourage them to reach out to Israeli experts for expertise in areas such as water, which are of critical importance for the future well-being of the residents of the city.”

DA councillor Daniel Schay told the SA Jewish Report that the court’s decision was a victory for democracy and the rule of law. “For 10 months, Mayor Phalatse poured her heart and soul into ensuring that this city regains its shine and begins to serve residents again. It would have been an absolute travesty had that all been brushed aside,” he said.

Photo courtesy of News24