Ekurhuleni is at a tipping point after coalition partners, the EFF and ActionSA, rejected invitations to join ANC councillor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza’s mayoral committee.
In a move that cracks open the door to fresh coalition instability and further destabilises governance in the metro ahead of municipal elections later this year, the two allies turned down “peripheral” posts in the unity government.
Analysts warned the multiparty coalition running the metro is at risk of disintegrating after Xhakaza reshuffled his cabinet, stacking it with his ANC comrades who took up five crucial portfolios, while diminishing the EFF’s influence in his mayoral committee.
Xhakaza on Wednesday gave three councillors from the EFF and ActionSA just 12 hours to join his mayoral committee after they failed to attend a scheduled swearing-in ceremony. The ultimatum follows a late-night cabinet reshuffle announced on Tuesday.
“They are given 12 hours to avail themselves, failing which the metro leadership will take a decision on what should happen next,” acting mayoral spokesperson Ramatolo Tlotleng told Sowetan sister publication Business Day yesterday.
Xhakaza defended the decision to reshuffle his team, saying it was not taken lightly and is aimed at transforming the metro’s economy.
Regarding the EFF and ActionSA councillors, Xhakaza said: “We are giving them 12 hours to present an apology for not showing up. If they don’t show up we will have to be decisive because our people want us to work. The people of Ekurhuleni are not interested in political instability, internal disputes and other issues. They want us to work. They want us to fix the municipality.”
The Ekurhuleni council has 224 seats, with the ANC holding 86, the DA 65, EFF 31, ActionSA 15, Freedom Front Plus 8, IFP 2, ACDP 2 and other smaller parties jointly holding 10 seats.
While the ANC leads with 86 seats, it still falls short of the requisite 113 to govern alone. The present coalition is made up of the ANC, EFF, ActionSA and PA, totalling 136 seats.
Control of the Ekurhuleni metro has changed hands from coalitions led by the ANC to the DA, AIC and back to the ANC since 2016 due to what has been attributed to the instability of coalitions.
The reshuffle saw Xhakaza’s ANC comrades taking up five crucial positions including finance, roads and transport, and utility services, while diminishing the EFF’s presence in his cabinet from five portfolios to two. He also included an ActionSA councillor Xolani Khumalo, in his reshuffled cabinet, but the Herman Mashaba-led party rejected the offer, as did the EFF.
“Following repeated and unsuccessful attempts by mayor Xhakaza to solicit ActionSA’s participation in his administration, I have consistently made it clear that we will not join his failing government and have rejected every personal and formal approach made to us,” Mashaba said.
“Our position has been very clear on every occasion that we will not lend credibility to an administration that has overseen the lawless and deterioration of service delivery that continues to cripple the city.”
EFF spokesperson Sinawo Thambo said the party noted Xhakaza’s decision to “unilaterally remove EFF councillor Bridget Thusi as MMC for community services and councillor Kgopelo Hollo as MMC for human settlements”.
“Both of these MMCs have performed well in their portfolios and have been of exemplary service to the people of Ekurhuleni,” he said.
There has been growing tension between Xhakaza and the EFF. In June 2024, the executive mayor fired EFF Gauteng chair Nkululeko Dunga as finance MMC, replacing him with his ANC comrade Jongizizwe Dlabathi, who retained his position during the reshuffle on Tuesday evening.
Political analyst Thabiso Maphosa said the coalition instability in Ekurhuleni has effectively brought the “ANC to its knees”.
“The coalition government in the metro will collapse and the ANC might find itself in opposition benches after the local government elections later this year,” Maphosa said.
Maphosa said no opposition party wanted to associate itself with the ANC in Ekurhuleni, due to the revelations of wrongdoing the Madlanga commission has unearthed against Ekurhuleni officials.
Sowetan
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