Pretoria - The African National Congress (ANC) in Gauteng says the fallout in the Joburg Council shows that the Democratic Alliance cannot lead a coalition arrangement where power is shared amongst different parties.
Speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, Gauteng ANC spokesperson Lesego Makhubela said the coalitions led DA has been “chaotic”.
“Coalitions headed by the Democratic Alliance are chaotic. The ANC led a coalition government in Ekurhuleni for the past five years, and not even a single person was removed – the speaker, the mayor Mzwandile Masina and all officials remained in their positions until the end of the term. So, we led a very stable coalition in Ekurhuleni,” he said.
“You had a coalition of the DA in 2016 in Tshwane. You had three mayors in one year. They changed three mayors in one year. They changed different speakers. They changed MMCs, a very unstable coalition, which brought the finances of that city to its knees. You had a coalition of the DA in Johannesburg … you know that Herman Mashaba left to form a dumping site of the DA, which is Action SA which is one and the same thing.”
He said the current coalition led by the DA in Joburg is “collapsing”. The outspoken ANC activist said the effect of the “unstable coalitions” is that service delivery has collapsed as well.
“The ANC in Gauteng, where it has led municipalities, it has led stable municipalities. If you speak about the ANC in Tshwane, the people there are yearning for the ANC-led municipality, which was led by Dr (Kgosientso) Sputla Ramokgopa. They still speak about it to this day,” he said.
“In Johannesburg, they still speak about a city that was led by mayor Parks Tau. In Ekurhuleni, they are now missing Mzwandile Masina (former mayor). Where there are challenges, we are not afraid to act because we are students of (Amilcar) Cabral. We do not mask anything.”
Makhubele said working with other parties, the ANC was now seeking to remove the DA mayors across Gauteng.
“We need to restore order. We need to bring financial prudence to all these municipalities,” said Makhubela.
Hours before facing a calamitous motion of no confidence in the Joburg Council scheduled for Friday, Mayor Mpho Phalatse vowed that she would not resign, despite loud calls for her removal during a special sitting set for today.
Newly-elected Speaker Colleen Makhubele has moved to hold the special sitting today, with the agenda to deliberate a motion of no confidence against Phalatse.
The embattled mayor of South Africa’s economic hub vowed to fight till the end.
“I would like to start by thanking you for your prayers and messages of support for me and the multi-party government, which despite the political events of the last month, have still been hard at work in order to ensure that the repair and rebuild of the city continues. Over the last few days, there have been calls for my resignation, pending the tabling of a motion of confidence in me, and by extension, the entire executive of the city,” said Phalatse in a statement.
“I will not be resigning, and I, along with the 10 members of the mayoral committee, intend on completing our electoral term of office so that we can build this beautiful city across its seven regions and call it a city of golden opportunities, where all residents feel that they are part of a beautifully diverse community.”
Addressing residents of Joburg in the statement, Phalatse said the population would feel the knock-on effect if the ANC-led coalition, featuring parties including the EFF, UDM and AIC, gets its way and topples her.
“This is not about me or political parties, this is about you, the six million residents of the city, who will ultimately suffer should this multi-party government be dissolved through a motion of confidence in the executive mayor. As we speak, there are nefarious actors working to urgently convene a meeting of council to dissolve the multi-party government and subsequently elect what can best be described as a corrupt cabal that will masquerade as a government,” said Phalatse in the strong-worded statement.
“Their only focus will be to empty the city’s coffers, stop service delivery and collapse the city. While we accept the democratic outcome of the election of a new speaker of council and respect the office of the speaker, what we will not allow is for that office to be used as a vehicle to drive a political agenda that will ultimately collapse the city.
“This is your city. This is your multi-party government. It is not some project created for the benefit of immoral and unethical players. Residents of Joburg, we have seen and live daily with the destruction of State Capture. The agenda of the political hyenas is to capture and collapse the city. You and I cannot allow this to happen,” she said.
This week, opposition parties have successfully installed outspoken Cope councillor Colleen Makhubele as the new speaker, with the help of the Patriotic Alliance, which ditched the DA-led coalition.
Earlier this month, ANC regional chairperson in Joburg, Dada Morero, denied allegations that the party bribed members of the city council to support its motion of no confidence, which claimed the scalp of then council speaker Vasco Da Gama.
Da Gama was voted out of the city council last month. The DA, joined by other opposition parties, laid charges of attempted bribery against the ANC for allegedly bribing council members to vote for the ousting of the speaker.
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