The EFF on Sunday accused an ANC City of Johannesburg mayoral committee member of offering cash to opposition parties to ensure that the ANC retains the Johannesburg metro ahead of the much anticipated first council sitting on Monday.
ANC mayoral committee member Dan Bovu, however, has dismissed these claims.
EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi claimed that Bovu had been calling members of the EFF, offering them as much as R500 000 in exchange for a vote for the ANC at Monday’s council sitting. His party would open a criminal case against the member, he said.
“The EFF in Johannesburg will be opening a case of bribery against the ANC’s Dan Bovu, who thinks our democracy is up for sale. The ANC in Johannesburg must know that no amount of bribery will ever reconcile you with the people who rejected you in a popular vote.
“The ANC must concede defeat and not try win elections through corruption,” Ndlozi said.
“Even if the ANC were to be successful on Monday to buy any councillor candidate, their mayor will not last because political parties have the right to replace councillors. We will therefore do so and ensure that the ANC is out of power in Johannesburg.”
Bovu said: “I have noted with great concern the serious, defamatory, and spurious allegations of bribery that the EFF is making against me to bribe their Johannesburg councillors.
“It must be stated that I have never met EFF councillors nor have I offered anyone bribes to vote with the ANC. I intend to open a case of defamation against my character by the EFF.
“My understanding is that the desperate grandstanding of the EFF is due to what happened in Rustenburg on Friday, where smaller parties rallied around the ANC to form a partnership of co-operation, thus rejecting the EFF and their coalition with their bedfellows the DA.”
The metro is poised to be snatched by the DA, which on Friday also took over the capital city Tshwane from the governing party.
The ANC won 121 seats in Johannesburg against the DA’s 104. The EFF, dubbed “the kingmaker” in the country’s highly contested local polls, won 30 seats. The rest of the 270 council seats went to smaller parties.
On Sunday, ANC mayoral candidate Parks Tau said although he might no longer be the mayor, his party was ready to occupy the opposition party benches in the metro. He told reporters that coalition talks with opposition parties were still ongoing, and that the outcome would be revealed on Monday. – African News Agency