Four of the Johannesburg council motions of no confidence (MoNC) were withdrawn on Tuesday.

The motions were against the mayor, Kabelo Gwamanda, the whip of council, Sithembiso Zungu, and another two to oust speaker, Colleen Makhubele.

The unofficial reason for the withdrawals were that the Democratic Alliance-ActionSA coalition did not have the numbers to remove the leaders after the Patriotic Alliance chose to stay with the Government of Local Unity (GLU), the name given to the African National Congress-Economic Freedom Fighters alliance.

The DA is also of the opinion that the constant revolution in government in Johannesburg has caused so much instability that it has affected the running of the city. 

On Tuesday, the first of three days of the 21st extraordinary sitting of the council, the DA's Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku asked to table a motion to debate the dissolution of the council on 2 November.

The DA wants the government to dissolve so residents can vote for new, stable leadership.

The first motion against Zungu was brought by the DA's Gerhard Niemand, who said the Johannesburg government was not functioning and it served no purpose to remove the whip, and to replace him with someone from the same council - so he withdrew the motion of no confidence.

The motion against the mayor was brought by ActionSA's Sthembelo Majola, who said he was advised to remove the motion.

This incited the call of "whipping boy".

Makhubele had to call the council to order, saying "nobody in this house is a boy".

The motion against the speaker by the DA's Chloe Homer was read by another councillor as Homer was on maternity leave.

It read, "I don't see why we should go along with this merry-go-round. We are calling for the dissolution of council to empower the citizens of Joburg [to choose a new government]."

The motion of no confidence against the speaker was also withdrawn.

ActionSA withdrew a second motion against the speaker, saying it was Women's Month and they didn't want to put her under pressure.

The council will continue with the motions on Wednesday.