ATM’s John Senona beats EFF’s Nkululeko Dunga for Ekurhuleni speaker position

TheEkurhulenicouncil has elected theAfrican Transformation Movement’s(ATM) John Senona as the new council speaker. Senona received 94 votes from councillors on Thursday, while his rival Nkululeko Dunga of theEconomic Freedom Fighters(EFF), garnered 32. Earlier in the day, sources told theMail & Guardianthat theANCin Ekurhuleni had offered the Democratic Alliance (DA) the position of new council speaker after the previous one was moved to a member of the mayoral committee position.

The DA was considering accepting the position, given the working relationship the parties had at the national level through the government of national unity, the sources said, adding that if it declined, the ANC could approach theATM. They predicted that the ANC and smaller parties in the council would have enough votes to field their own candidate, one insider close to the matter said. “The 13 parties are giving the ANC a majority to govern without the DA, EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) and ActionSA combined,” the source said. “The question remains whether the DA will join the Ekurhuleni government of local unity, side with the EFF andActionSAor remain neutral on an issue-by-issue basis.” The EFF had insisted that the speaker post rightfully belonged to the Red Berets under an earlier political agreement with the ANC.