In an unexpected twist of events the City of Tshwane released a media statement on Friday announcing that Dr Nasiphi Moya is now the acting Mayor of the City of Tshwane.
Up until Thursday afternoon Moya, who is an ActionSA member, was the City’s Deputy Mayor working together with ousted former Mayor Cilliers Brink.
ActionSA withdrew its membership of the ruling Tshwane Coalition Government and instead ganged up with the ANC, EFF and Patriotic Alliance to remove Brink as mayor through a vote of no confidence on Thursday.
“In view of the motion of no confidence having been passed against Cilliers Brink on 26 September 2024, the Deputy Mayor Councilor Nasiphi Moya will exercise the powers and functions of the Office of the Executive Mayor until such time the Council convenes to elect a new mayor for Tshwane,” read the statement from the City of Tshwane.
According to Council rules, a new mayor must be elected within 14 days after the position has been declared vacant.
Earlier this year Dr Moya had to repay R10 000 which accrued from her failure to embark on an overseas trip for which the City of Tshwane had incurred monetary losses.
This was a few years ago when Moya was working as a senior staff member in the office of one of the previous DA mayors and not Cilliers Brink.
On Thursday after the motion of no confidence in Brink, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba revealed that he would prefer Dr Moya as an elected mayor of Tshwane.
But be that as it may, social media reports suggest that former ANC Councilor in the City of Tshwane Dr Kgoshi Maepa has been tipped to assume the mayoral position as an ANC candidate.
Maepa is regarded in some social media circles as an anti-Government of National Unity person who has influence in the Gauteng structures of the ANC which are allegedly bent on defying the national structures of the ANC regarding a working relationship with the DA.
When approached for comment regarding his chances of becoming City of Tshwane mayor, Maepa told Tshwane Talks that he won’t comment on media speculations and that the National Executive Committee of the ANC is the one that appoints mayors at Metropolitan Councils which are governed by the ANC.
At the time of publishing this story, the ANC in Gauteng had not responded to queries submitted by Tshwane Talks in this regard.