Three-way battle for Ekurhuleni Speaker as voting commences

Voting was underway on Monday to elect a new Speaker of the Ekurhuleni City Council.

This followed the resignation of the Economic Freedom Fighters' (EFF) Nthabiseng Tshivhenga, who was redeployed to the Gauteng legislature.

Tshivhenga stepped down as both speaker and councillor following a fallout with some EFF members in the council.

Three candidates contested the position.

The EFF’s provincial chairperson and former Ekurhuleni finance MMC, Nkululeko Dunga, vied for the speaker position.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) nominated its chief whip in the city, Lucky Dinake, while the African National Congress (ANC) fielded Dora Mlambo for the highly contested role.

Councillors were voting for one of the three candidates on Monday afternoon, with the outcome expected later that day.

EWN understood that Mayor Doctor Xhakaza was also planning to restructure his mayoral committee, which comprised the ANC, EFF, and African Independent Congress (AIC).

Xhakaza, who is an ANC councillor, was unhappy with the EFF and wanted the party out of the coalition government.