By Anél Powell
Executive mayor Helen Zille has vowed to fight the ANC for control of the City of Cape Town, saying that any move to replace the mayoral committee system with the multiparty executive committee system would lead to a constitutional crisis and "undermine international confidence in the future of democracy" in South Africa.
"We will fight the ANC's latest attempt to nullify the election outcome with everything we have," she said of the opposition party's "fifth attempt to topple us".
The provincial ANC government has yet to confirm allegations reported on Wednesday that it planned to abolish the city's multi-party government and replace it with the executive committee system.
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But the party's provincial secretary, Mcebisi Skwatsha, said on Wednesday that such a move would enable the ANC and other parties "to get a fair share" of power in the council.
"Some of the parties in government have got less than two percent of the vote," he said.
The mayoral committee system has allowed parties with seven seats and less, such as the ACDP, Africa Muslim Party (AMP), UDM, United Independent Front, Freedom Front Plus and the PAC, to share power in a multi-party government.
Council sources claimed the MEC for Local Government and Housing, Richard Dyantyi, was expected to contact the municipality "early next week" about the proposed change.
Zille said that while she was aware of the plan, she had not expected the ANC to go through with its threat. "It has not happened yet and the letter (from Dyantyi) has to land."
She said the amendment came from "the nationalist side of the ANC" who were willing to sacrifice stability for short-term political power.
Skwatsha said he was unaware of a plot in the provincial ANC leadership to strip Zille of her powers. "What I can say is the ANC has been fairly concerned about the behaviour of the mayor and mayoral committee, but at no stage was there pressure on the MEC to do this."
Dyantyi's spokesperson, Vusi Tshose, said the MEC would not respond to speculation and would comment on the matter if and when the need arose.
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