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The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg granted the Democratic Alliance (DA) an urgent interdict to halt a special council sitting of the Ekurhuleni Metro.

The DA and council Speaker, Raymond Dhlamini, filed an urgent application to prevent the sitting of the Ekurhuleni council, which the City manager, Imogen Mashazi, had called for 30 January.

The urgent court application was argued two hours ahead of the start of the special sitting at 10:00 on Monday.

Dhlamini is facing a motion of no confidence, which seven minority political parties had brought to the Ekurhuleni council.

Dhlamini confirmed to News24 that the court had granted his office an interdict, and the Ekurhuleni council sitting could not go ahead.

He said he could now continue his duties as Speaker.

The DA councillor said the court heard arguments that his actions were in line with his duties.

Mashazi had presided over the special sitting, but cancelled it shortly after it resumed following the interdict.

The urgent court matter was preceded by a chaotic council sitting on 26 January.

Dhlamini had, on 26 January, presided over a council sitting which had included an agenda item on his fitness to hold office.

A no confidence motion in Dhlamini was filed by smaller opposition political parties. When the motion was to be heard, there were chaotic scenes as councillors clashed with council staffers.

Dhlamini said that, while he witnessed the scenes, he had no choice but to postpone the sitting, to probe the motives behind the violence.

On 27 January, he wrote to political parties to seek a rescheduling of the council meeting, stating it was important that a caucus meeting with political chief whips be held before another council meeting was called.

In his affidavit accompanying the court application, Dhlamini explained it was necessary for "safety and democracy" that a probe took place to ensure councillors were never injured in council.

While Dhlamini shifted the time-frame for the next sitting, Mashazi approved a request from some political parties to hold a special sitting on 30 January.

Dhlamini said Mashazi had acted unconstitutionally and unlawfully.

"There is no basis for the City manager to call or chair a meeting under the Municipal Structures Act. The City manager had no authority to act as she did. Her powers were not triggered as the fundamental jurisdictional requirements needed to be met," he argued.

"I am advised that the City manager's decision to call the meeting was procedurally irrational. She acted unlawfully in calling the meeting for 30 January," Dhlamini argued.

The court interdict was expected to form the first line of defence in the DA's bid to bring a formal court application against Mashazi's actions.

Ekurhuleni is a hung municipality, with no political party holding a majority in the council.

The DA governs the metro in a minority coalition with the African Christian Democratic Party, Cope and Freedom Front Plus.

Last year, the mayor, Tania Campbell, was briefly ousted in a motion of no confidence brought by the African National Congress (ANC).

A political dispute between the ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters ensured Campbell was re-elected as mayor after the two parties failed to clinch an agreement.

Thapelo Amad was officially sworn in as the new mayor of Johannesburg.

In his acceptance speech, Amad vowed to urgently tackle service delivery and restore financial stability.

The Al Jama-ah representative was voted in on Friday after the Democratic Alliance's (DA's) Mpho Phalatse was removed via a motion of no confidence.

Amad said it was "no secret" they had inherited "a city under massive financial strain", adding that financial stability needed to be prioritised.

He said the focus would be on collecting revenue.

He would urgently be revisiting the R2-billion loan the DA wanted from the Development Bank of SA.

The DA twice brought a motion to obtain the loan - but, on both occasions, the opposition voted against it.

In a briefing on Friday, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi explained the loan was denied because the DA-led coalition had said there was no financial crisis.

Opposition parties denied the loan on the basis that, if the former mayor said there was no financial crisis, then she did not need the loan.

Next on the mayor's list was the electricity crisis.

Amad said that, if the previous government's plan was beneficial, then the new leadership would continue the plan.

"Energy security is one of the key priorities. We need to fix ageing infrastructure, including roads which have become dangerous due to potholes. We also need to fix drains which have led to flooding.

"We need to ensure refuse removal and find innovative ways to conserve water as we fix the water infrastructure.

"As my colleague, Margaret [Arnolds] would say, the grass is as long as she is tall - and it must be cut, so criminals cannot hide in it. We need to fix the street lights. It's totally unacceptable that traffic lights are not working for longer than two days when we are not loadshedding."

He said he would engage with law enforcement to ensure there was a level of order and cleanliness.

He said authorities would be engaged to drive out illegal immigrants, which he said were associated with drug dealing and hijacking buildings. And, he added, street vendors would not be harassed by law enforcement.

Present at his swearing-in ceremony was Lesufi, the ambassadors of Qatar, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as Ganief Hendricks, the leader of Al Jama-ah.

The mayor did not say when he would elect his executive.

The council heard a new pop version of the national anthem before the event, and the Speaker, Colleen Makhubele, said that, because there was a "young new mayor", there was a new version of the anthem.

Makhubele called Amad's election a victory and said she was excited for the city.

"I have faith that the destiny [of the city] is reached. This is a victory for workers, the youth and residents.

"It's a victory for informal settlements and those illegally evicted from their homes. It's a victory for the minority [parties], who today proved that even the smallest voices can be heard.

"It is a victory for the PA, the EFF, the ANC - and all of our victory to share together."

Former KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala is set to resign from his role as Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC by Tuesday.

The resignation paves the way for him to be appointed as either a minister or a deputy minister when President Cyril Ramaphosa announces a Cabinet reshuffle.

Speaking to News24, African National Congress (ANC) KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Mafika Mndebele said: “It is true that Zikalala will be leaving the provincial legislature.”

“He [Zikalala] will be redeployed to the national government and his exit from the provincial government will be as soon as tomorrow [Tuesday],” said Mndebele.

In a letter acknowledging Zikalala’s imminent resignation seen by News24, the ANC in the province said it had agreed on Zikalala’s redeployment to the National Assembly.

“He [Zikalala] will accordingly resign as the MEC for Cogta following this redeployment,” reads the letter.

This announcement comes after Mervyn Dirks confirmed his resignation as a Member of Parliament, saying the speaker had accepted his resignation which was effective from Monday 30 January. Tshilidzi Munyai also resigned from Parliament.

Zikalala topped the list of 80 additional ANC national executive committee members. Last year, he failed to retain the ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairperson position and lost out to Siboniso Duma. Zikalala resigned as the premier and was appointed Cogta MEC.

The stand-off between Eskom and the National Treasury over funding for diesel has ended with an agreement that government will support Eskom borrowing from commercial banks, should it be unable to reprioritise its own resources.

In December, Eskom declared that it had run out of money to buy more diesel, having spent R12-billion, overshooting its annual budget by more than 100% - with four months to go until the end of the financial year.

While neither Eskom nor the National Treasury would comment on the agreement or the amount likely to be sought, several people with knowledge of the talks confirmed the arrangement and said that Eskom was likely to seek R4-billion to get it through February and March, after which the new financial year will begin.

Eskom is logistically constrained by how much diesel it can move to the open-cycle gas turbine plants and can only feasibly burn up to R2.5-billion of feedstock a month. This would enable it to reduce loadshedding by two stages for around six hours a day during peak times.

As well as the loans it is expected to take, Eskom has been urged to find internal savings. In January, it was able to make R1-billion available for diesel from its own resources. The National Treasury has consistently argued that Eskom does have resources for additional diesel, were it to make different spending choices.

The "tough love" approach to Eskom has been a defining feature of the tenure of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, who has insisted that State-owned companies should find savings and remedies to their financial constraints rather than taking the easy way out and falling back on the fiscus.

However, in his budget next month, Godongwana is expected to announce major debt relief for Eskom. Its R400-billion debt – incurred mostly in constructing its newest power stations Medupi and Kusile – has prevented it from accessing funds in the capital markets. Godongwana said in October he would take between one-third and two-thirds of the quantum onto government's own balance sheet. He said the amount would be determined based on the size of the tariff increase granted to Eskom by the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa).

In December, Nersa awarded Eskom one of its largest hikes ever of 18.6%. While President Cyril Ramaphosa has suggested to Eskom that the full amount should not be implemented immediately, Eskom is legally unable to comply and must stick with the regulator's decision.

While Nersa did once previously revise its decision downwards at Eskom's request, the regulator is now reluctant to alter the regulated tariff without an order from a court.

Debt relief for Eskom is a crucial first step to unbundling the entity into three subsidiaries responsible for generation, distribution, and transmission. The unbundling and debt relief will enable Eskom to borrow again and make large investments, particularly in the transmission network.

Al Jama-ah’s Thapelo Amad has been elected the new executive mayor of Johannesburg.

He beat ActionSA councillor Funzi Ngobeni and former mayor Mpho Phalatse with 138 votes.

Phalatse received 81 votes and Ngobeni received 46.

Phalatse was ousted in a motion of no confidence on Thursday. Amad was voted in with the support of an ANC-led coalition.

Deputy president David Mabuza has engaged President Cyril Ramaphosa on his intentions to resign and make way for newly-elected African National Congress deputy president Paul Mashatile.

Mabuza’s office confirmed to News24 that he believes it is important to “align party leadership roles with government responsibilities,” all but confirming his exit from the executive.

African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Pemmy Majodina has expressed concern that the "energy crisis" could disrupt the State of the Nation Address (SoNA) next month.

"I hope we will have the necessary backup as we are facing the energy crisis of loadshedding," said Majodina.

She was speaking at the first meeting of the National Assembly Programming Committee on Thursday, where the SoNA was discussed. The SoNA will be held on 9 February at 19:00 in the Cape Town City Hall.

Secretary to the National Assembly Masibulele Xaso responded to Majodina: "The necessary backup is in place, so we shouldn't have problems."

He didn't elaborate on what the backup plan was.

Majodina proposed that the debate on the SoNA – on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the following week – be rescheduled to start at 10:00 rather than the traditional 14:00 to avoid the worst bouts of load shedding. She was particularly concerned about women Members of Parliament arriving home late at night.

Xaso said rescheduling the debates would have to be discussed with the National Council of Provinces, at its joint sitting, but added that he did not foresee any problems.

Xaso also said there would have to be a sitting before SoNA to pass a motion that would allow Parliament to sit at the Cape Town City Hall. He said it would be a general motion so that they wouldn't have to do it every time they were going to use the City Hall.

The City Hall will also be used for the budget speech on 22 February and a commemoration of the first speaker of the democratic Parliament, Frene Ginwala.

National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said the presiding officers had proposed a joint sitting to pay homage to Ginwala on 6 February. She said it would be unusual to hold it before SoNA, but they thought it wouldn't be timely to have it later.

Mapisa-Nqakula said, "If we have it later, it will lose its meaning, its essence."

The initial idea was to have the Ginwala commemoration on 2 February, but they learnt that there would be a Cabinet lekgotla on the same date.

Ginwala died on 12 January at the age of 90.

Following the fire that razed the National Assembly on 2 January 2022, the 2022 SoNA was hosted at the Cape Town City Hall.

Some National Assembly plenaries were held in the Good Hope Chamber on the parliamentary precinct, but it can't accommodate all MPs from both houses and the guests attending SoNA and the budget speech.

Interest rates were hiked by 25 basis points on Thursday, as the Reserve Bank slashed its expectations for growth this year.

Three members of the monetary policy committee voted in favour of the 25 basis point hike, while two wanted a 50 basis point increase.

The move brings the repo rate to 7.25%, and the prime rate to 10.75%. Economists polled by Bloomberg expect that rates may peak at 7.5% and that the first cuts could come as early as the fourth quarter of the year.

The SA Reserve Bank hiked rates by 75 basis points for three meetings in a row last year.

On a new home loan of R2-million at the prime rate, the latest increase hikes the monthly instalment by around R340. Since November 2021, monthly payments on a R2-million home loan are R4 800 more expensive due to a raft of rate hikes.

On Thursday, Governor of the SA Reserve Bank, Lesetja Kganyago, was gloomy about the outlook for the South Africa's economy.

The Reserve Bank now expects the economy to only grow by 0.3% this year, due in part to loadshedding. As recently as November, it expected growth of more than 1% in 2023.

The bank also slashed growth expectations to 0.7% in 2024 (down from 1.4%) and by 1.0% in 2025 (down from 1.5%).

"While economic growth has been volatile for some time, prospects for growth appear even more uncertain than normal," Kganyago said.

He expects that investment will decline amid weaker confidence and lower expected growth, while declining commodity prices mean exports are also forecast to be less robust.

While the bank lowered its growth expectations, it kept its headline inflation for 2023 unchanged at 5.4% - still above its target goal of 4.5%. It only expects inflation to reach this goal at the end of 2024.

Mpho Phalatse has been voted out as City of Johannesburg executive mayor.

Councillors voted for her removal with 140 votes in support of the motion of no confidence.

A total of 129 councillors voted for Phalatse to remain in the role.

Earlier in the day, she said she was confident she would remain in office despite three motions of no confidence against her on Thursday.

She said the Democratic Alliance (DA) began its tenure in the City with 140 out of 270 seats for a DA-led multiparty government. In September, she was illegally booted from her position when some coalition parties crossed the floor.

Phalatse addressed rumours that she would join ActionSA if removed: "If I'm out of office, I will communicate the plans, but I still believe I will be in office [after the council meeting this week]."

She said action plans put in place by the DA-led government were not political.

"Whatever happens, whoever comes in, I hope they will have the sense to continue the plans. These are not political plans."

The portfolio committees on Public Enterprises, and Mineral Resources and Energy and the Select Committee on Public Enterprises and Communication will, on Thursday and Friday, meet various Eskom stakeholders to assess efforts to resolve the crippling energy crisis facing the country.

Eskom announced earlier this week that loadshedding would remain at Stage 4 from 16:00 to 05:00 every day, with Stage 3 implemented from 05:00 to 16:00 during the day until further notice.

The committees felt that constant loadshedding was adverse impacting the country and exacerbating its socioeconomic challenges.

The meeting will address the security of electricity supply, the operational state of all power stations and governance at Eskom.

Solutions to the current loadshedding, as well as alleged sabotage and theft at power stations, will also be addressed at the meeting.

“The aim of the interaction is to assess the interventions being rolled out to address the energy challenge and ensure security of energy supply. A secure energy supply will add impetus to efforts to grow the economy and address the unemployment challenge,” said Public Enterprises Portfolio Committee chairperson Khaya Magaxa.

Select committee chairperson Zolani Mkiva said to achieve desired solutions, the committees were aware that there was a need for holistic engagement with all stakeholders to ensure a common vision.

“It is for this fact that the committees will engage various stakeholders, including organised labour, the Eskom board and senior management, to ensure that there is a common goal that the entity is working towards. We have a responsibility as public representatives to do oversight and ensure challenges are resolved,” added Mkiva.