DURBAN - The newly elected eThekwini’s municipal public accounts committee (MPAC) chair, Dr Makhosi Khoza, said her party does not have a coalition agreement with the DA which is why both parties contested the MPAC position during the voting on Wednesday.
Khoza was responding to widespread rumours that ActionSA and the DA's relationship had collapsed in the city, after voting together in a bloc that wanted the DA’s Nicole Graham as mayor.
Khoza told the Daily News on Thursday that her party has no coalition agreement with anyone including the DA, saying she makes decisions based on public interest not based on any agreement with any party, because there was none.
She added that as far as she knows the DA and ActionSA agreement in the Gauteng metros are not binding on her in eThekwini.
During voting for MPAC, Khoza defeated the DA’s Tex Collins by 106 to 74 votes.
These figures reflect that only the DA and the IFP voted for Collins, which was also confirmed by Graham. Khoza, who confirmed that the ANC voted for her, said she was approached by many political parties because of her experience in the South African Local Government Association and as chair of Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts, adding that the DA did not want ActionSA to even sit on MPAC. The voting was by show of hands.
Graham, who is also DA caucus leader in the city, said as far as the DA knows ActionSA is a partner in a coalition agreement which was reached by both parties’ national leadership, and what happened on Wednesday concerned the party when Khoza was voted by the ANC.
She added that the DA would raise the issue with Khoza’s national leadership.
A senior leader of the DA, who asked not to be named, said what happened on Wednesday was a fulfilment of the bloc members’ strong belief that Khoza never voted for Graham in the mayoral contest but Khoza refuted that, saying the voting was secret.
Daily News