Vasco da Gama elected as Joburg council speaker

22 August 2016

Johannesburg - The DA's Vasco da Gama has been elected as speaker of the Johannesburg City Council.

The counting of votes for the speaker of the Johannesburg council got underway under the watchful eye of political party agents on Monday afternoon.

Voting was disrupted numerous times, with agents arguing over regulations around secret ballots.

Even though the IEC gave clarity over the matter, EFF members of the mayoral council insisted on putting their ballots on display.

The EFF argued that its members should be allowed to show their votes if they wished to.

Voting for the mayor would now take place.

Constance Bapela, the current speaker of council, was nominated by the ANC, while the DA put forward long-serving councilor Da Gama for the position.

This article first appeared on News24, see here.