Johannesburg speaker Margaret Arnolds had a baptism of fire last week as she presided over a boisterous council meeting - and now the controlling hand of the city's affairs must look ahead while at the same time managing an undercurrent of factionalism within her own party. 

On Wednesday, an impromptu debate set the meeting back 45 minutes before councillors could get their teeth into the meat of the day. Arnolds asked the councillors if she was being initiated as she tried to keep order. 

Thursday’s meeting was no better as an Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) councillor told an ActionSA councillor to "meet me outside" as he tore off his red jacket. This all over a debate on loadshedding.

On the face of it, Arnolds remained cool amid the latest stanza of political instability through tenuous coalitions which have governed the country's economic hub. 

The African Independent Congress (AIC) is one of nine minority parties comprising the 18-party Johannesburg coalition.

The AIC has been divided into two factions, with one side claiming that the party has been without a president and national executive since a high court ruling in 2019 that dissolved the national executive.

Arnolds denied this. She said the factions, named after the 2019 president Mandla Galo and the late deputy president Lulama Ntshayisa, had reconciled.

Ntshayisa died from Covid-19 on 23 July 2021, but his supporters within the AIC still say they were appointed as the leadership from the "ground level" supporters. The group, who refuse to be individually named “for fear of retribution”, say that the Galo faction is working independently and appointing themselves into positions with the help of the African National Congress (ANC). 

In March 2019, the Pietermaritzburg High Court set aside and declared invalid the AIC's elective conference, which took place in April 2018.

The national executive committee (NEC) remained dissolved until a May 2022 ruling by the same court.

In his ruling, acting judge Robin Mossop said: "The only way in which the AIC can hope to regain its former glory is through the two factions setting aside their differences and cooperating for the greater good of the party.

"If this is not done, the AIC will perish. This court is simply not able to solve what is, in essence, a political conundrum. Indeed, in Mcoyi, Patel DJP stated that a court should be reluctant to interfere in what are essentially political issues. I agree with this statement."

AIC speaker Reverend Mxolisi Koom said the 2022 judgment reunited the party.

Following the judgment, he said that in October 2022, a "general meeting" was held where a "democratic process" was observed to elect the AIC NEC.

He said those who claimed there were still factions within the party were "misinformed".

"The integrated elected NEC gave life to defactionalism. Those who say otherwise are passionate in ignorance."

He said the party structure has Galo as president, Sivuyile Ngodwana, also the Ekhuruleni executive mayor, as deputy, and Themba Mhlongo and Steven Jafta as Secretary general. Arnolds is treasurer general.

"We would like to express and affirm the congratulations to [Arnolds] for ascending and occupying such an important position as the speaker of the council of Johannesburg.

"We express our gratitude for the trust the minority parties have invested in us, which we will reciprocate. For she is equal to the task, and is very sound, and the epitome of honest politics imbued in patriotism.

Arnolds met with council structures ahead of the council sitting to understand her new role. She said this is to "understand what lane" she needs to stay in.

Of the claims that the party is divided, Arnolds said she "knows these types of people" who make claims.

Arnolds is the third speaker in two years. At the same time, Johannesburg has had four mayors.

She is one of two AIC councillors joining minority parties and the ANC, EFF and Patriotic Alliance (PA) alliance called the Government of Local Unity (GLU).

She beat former executive mayor Thapelo Amad to the seat.

This is the second time she has been up against the Al Jama-ah councillor. At the beginning of the year, she lost the executive mayor position to Amad. A heated debate allegedly preceded the decision to appoint Amad over Arnolds, and she was not too happy at being overlooked for the post.

Now, almost a year later, she is in one of the most powerful seats in the council.

Arnolds replaces Colleen Makhubele, who was removed from Congress of the People (Cope) after launching a political coalition party, South African Rainbow Alliance (SARA).

Cope has one seat in the Johannesburg council and could replace Makhubele because she is a proportional representation (PR) councillor elected by the party, not the residents.

Makhubele's tenure was fraught with factional infighting in Cope. Her succession to the position also took place because she defied party orders to vote against the motion of no confidence in her predecessor, Democratic Alliance (DA) speaker Vasco Da Gama.