Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it is not intimidated by the Economic Freedom Fighters's (EFF) threat to table a motion of no confidence in Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Athol Trollip.
The party said the EFF should be honest to South Africans that it is willing to put the metro back into the ANC's hands.
The DA and the red berets have been engaged in a bitter public spat that started earlier this week in Parliament.
The EFF tabled a motion to expropriate land without compensation which was debated in Parliament on Tuesday. The motion was supported by the ANC and smaller parties, but the DA debated strongly against the motion.
This angered the EFF, and the party said it would punish the DA for its refusal to support the motion and it would help remove Trollip as Mayor.
On Friday the EFF said it was resolute on its mission to remove Trollip and would not back down.
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The motion is set to be heard on April 6.
The red berets have also accused the DA of misleading the public by saying that comments made by its leader Julius Malema were hate speech. Malema said; “we are going for your white man in PE. We are going to cut the throat”.
The DA is taking the EFF to Equality Court over the comments.
Although the DA said it was not intimidated by the EFF, the party explained the fire financial state that Nelson Mandela Bay was in when the DA took over office from the ANC in 2016.
"The EFF’s decision to return the Metro to the ANC is indefensible, and shows how little they care for really improving the living conditions of poor people," said the DA.
"By their own admission, this is not about what is best for the people of the Metro, it is about their political hate campaign and their growing closeness to the ANC. They will be judged harshly by the voters for that decision."