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- Johannesburg is without a mayor until next week's extraordinary council meeting.
- Thapelo Amad stepped down on Monday - a day before a motion of no confidence in him.
- Due to his resignation, his executive has been dissolved.
For the next week, at least, the City of Johannesburg will be without a mayor following the resignation of Thapelo Amad at the 11th hour on Monday.
He resigned hours before a motion of no confidence in him.
City speaker Colleen Makhubele announced on Monday night that the 13th ordinary council meeting that was supposed to take place on Tuesday would be rescheduled for next week.
A notice from Makhubele's office stated: "The cancellation was necessitated by the resignation of the executive mayor as Section 60(5) of the Local Government Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998, as amended, requires that: If the executive mayor vacates office, the mayoral committee appointed by that executive mayor dissolves."
Makhubele said it would not affect basic services in the City because service department heads would remain in their positions and would continue their mandates, despite the lack of MMCs.
Instead, issues that would need to be heard before the council or voted on by council members would be affected due to the postponement of the council sitting.
READ | DA wants Mpho Phalatse back as Joburg mayor as election loomsAny crucial decisions would be made by the City manager or speaker.
On Monday, Amad insisted that he was not stepping down as the mayor of the City because of political pressure.
"This was not about me. It was about the bigger picture," the Al Jama-Ah councillor said.
When his resignation was announced on Monday night, he appeared alongside the ANC's Gauteng chairperson, Panyaza Lesufi, PA leader Gayton McKenzie and several other coalition political parties that are working with the ANC.
Lesufi said the ANC and its partners would deliberate Amad's replacement during a special council meeting next Tuesday.
News24 understands that Amad was asked to resign last week but that he said he would only do so if a councillor from Al Jama-Ah replaced him.
Lesufi did not respond to queries on this.
It is yet to be seen who will replace Amad.
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Makhubele said she could not respond to the allegation because she was not privy to "conversations behind closed doors".
From what she had heard from Amad on Monday, she said, he was stepping down because he "felt he had run his race" and the City needed someone who could take the next step in leading it.
When Amad came into office, the media queried whether he was in a "holding position" until the ANC-led coalition within Gauteng had sorted out its internal issues. This was after the failure to remove the DA mayor Tania Campbell in Ekurhuleni in November.
Campbell had been ousted in a motion of no confidence but was re-elected when the EFF voted with the DA after a disagreement with the ANC over a candidate, Jongizizwe Dlabathi.
Campbell has since been removed and the ANC and the EFF are once again in agreement.
When Amad was sworn in in January, the Johannesburg ANC coalition denied he was in a holding place and said he would remain there.
