Pretoria - The road has now been cleared for Solly Msimanga of the DA to be elected and take the oath as the next executive mayor of Tshwane.
This is expected to happen at the inaugural sitting of the fourth term of the council on Friday.
Municipal manager Jason Ngobeni has, after consultation with the relevant political parties, convened the sitting, which kicks off at midday at the Sammy Marks council chamber.
Ngobeni will preside over the swearing-in of political office bearers, including councillors, and the election of the Speaker of council. Thereafter, the Speaker will immediately take charge of proceedings for the election of the executive mayor and chief whip of council.
The swearing-in ceremony will be overseen by Deputy Judge President of the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, Aubrey Ledwaba.
The parties represented in the Tshwane Metro Municipality after the local government polls of two weeks ago unanimously mandated Ngobeni to constitute the council expeditiously “in order to accelerate service delivery to the people”.
The DA did not win an outright majority in the capital, but Msimanga’s elevation to the highest office in the city received a major boost on Wednesday when EFF leader Julius Malema showered him with praise.
Malema was speaking to journalists at Setswetla in Alexandra, Joburg, where he announced that the EFF would vote with the DA to elect Msimanga as the mayor.
“What we like of the mayor of the DA in Tshwane is that he is a genuine human being. He is not like Mmusi (DA leader Mmusi Maimane),” Malema said.
“He doesn’t have an accent for white people when he talks with white people and an accent for black people. He is himself every time we interact with him. His problem is that he chose the wrong party.”
In the same breath, Malema said the EFF would not enter into a coalition with either the DA or ANC.
“There is a difference between a coalition and voting for them. We will vote for them and be in the opposition benches. We are not going to delay service delivery because of ideological differences,” he said.
Malema said the DA shouldn't think that the EFF vote meant his party was in bed with it, but it was because the DA was a better devil than the ANC. “The difference between the ANC and the DA is that the ANC is a corrupt party,” he said.
Malema said there was a condition in place that the DA-run municipality should not change the name Tshwane. “But the DA said that we should also not change the name of Pretorius Street.
“We said to them that anything that reminds our people of apartheid must be removed. We had meetings with the DA on this point, but we seem not to be agreeing with them,” said Malema, who emphasised there was no deal between the DA and the EFF.
The EFF, Malema said, would scrutinise the budget before it was passed in council. He said municipal budgets would have to be more specific on the service delivery programmes and respective places for which they had been allocated.
He said that there was no reason why people in Hammanskraal, for instance, could not have access to water and flushing toilets. “There is no justification why that place can’t have water.”
He said the ANC had an option to choose between the metros and Jacob Zuma, and it chose the latter. The removal of Zuma as president was one of the conditions the EFF laid down in the coalition negotiations with the ANC.
To Tshwane ANC mayoral candidate Thoko Didiza, he said: “We shall meet in Parliament.
“There is not going to be any mayorship for you.”
Maimane, meanwhile, welcomed the decision of the EFF to offer its votes to the city’s new ruling party.
The DA leader was addressing a press conference to announce that the party had spoken to a number of political allies and subsequently agreed on coalitions with Cope, the ACDP, FF Plus, UDM and the IFP.
He joined the leaders of these parties to sign the coalition agreement during the briefing, held at the Radisson Blu Gautrain Hotel in Sandton.
Regarding the Tshwane name-change which had been on the municipal agenda for many years, Maimane said the proposal to change names must be subjected to a consultative process with the people.
ACDP leader Jo-Ann Downs described the multi-party government in the capital as a new era in South African politics.
“It is the time for multi-party government. It is the time of maximum accountability and transparency; it is the time of service delivery. Life has to change for all our people, especially in under-serviced townships,” she said.
Holomisa expressed gratitude to all political parties that participated in the coalition discussions and said this created hope that South Africans were able to work together to create a winning nation.
FF Plus leader Dr Pieter Mulder said: “It is now also clear that all parties involved in this are important, the large ones and the smaller ones. This brings a clear and loud message to the public that they can vote for the party of their choice, and that their vote will not be wasted, but will be used to make South Africa a better place.
“We realise that South Africa is in a crisis and that all the relevant parties will have to act responsibly and co-operate the best they can.”
Pretoria News