'DA didn't act in the interest of Joburg coalition'

With the City of Johannesburg now firmly in the ANC's hands, the head of the mayor of Ekurhuleni is on the chopping block. This is according to ActionSA leaders who were speaking in Sandton yesterday.

The party leaders alleged that Tanya Cambpell could face the same fate as former Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse, who was ousted via a motion of no confidence on Friday – tabled by the AIC.

ActionSA national chair Michael Beaumont was joined by the party's Gauteng chairperson John Moodey, provincial leader Bongani Baloyi and former Joburg MMC Funzela Ngobeni, who outlined how the coalition on the City of Johannesburg collapsed.

Baloyi said many attempts were made to save the coalition in Joburg. He said negotiations went on for a month but accused the DA of choosing power of relinquishing a position instead of protecting the coalition.

“There is no longer a coalition in the City of Johannesburg. All parties are individual parties. We note the DA's litigation. We've accepted our new reality that we're an opposition. We'll ensure the improved budget is affected and its services.

“We're not there to be sub-servients of the DA. We're not there on their whim. When opportunity arose to save the coalition we made a suggestion to have the PA’s idea to have an IFP speaker and this was rejected by the DA and we subsequently lost the coalition.

“The DA felt it’s their position. They no longer acted in the interest of the coalition. DA chose power and position and lost everything,” he said.

Next, Baloyi said, was Ekurhuleni. “Ekurhuleni is imminent. In the foreseeable future Ekurhuleni will go. We saw this earlier this year. We understand the ANC, DA and EFF have an agreement. It’s important for ActionSA in Joburg to take a break from the DA in Joburg so we can cool down and reflect on what happened,” Baloyi said.

Ekurhuleni council has a total of 224 seats. The ANC has the most number of seats with 86 followed by the DA with 65 and the EFF with 31 seats.

In order to topple the current DA-led coalition, a new formation would need 113 votes. Combined, the EFF and ANC have 117 seats.

Baloyi said while they still had a coalition agreement in Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, the ANC and EFF joining hands would easily remove the current administration.

“The EFF and ANC don't need ActionSA in Ekurhuleni. As reality stands, our numbers put together mean nothing. In Ekurhuleni we've prepared our guys for anything to happen.”

Meanwhile, ANC and EFF provincial bosses would not confirm if any agreement had been reached between the parties but maintained that the DA had failed in delivering services in the municipality.

EFF provincial chairperson Nkululeko Dunga accused ActionSA of being dramatic, adding they assumed power prematurely.

“The instability of the coalition is a result of concoctive ideological perspective that seeks to elevate white supremacy than any other thing. We think even the composition of MMCs in Ekurhuleni is too predominantly white when society is majority black and female. We’re not surprised there’s instability of governance,” he said.

ANC provincial secretary TK Nciza said the ANC was focused on its path and ensuring the people of Gauteng continued getting better services. “We’ll engage with anybody who wants the services of our people to improve, especially if it cares about the majority of our people in those areas,” he said.

Following the removal of Phalatse on Friday, ANC provincial chairperson Panyaza Lesufi boldly declared that the axe would fall on the DA in Tshwane as well as Ekurhuleni.

Beaumont told the media that the party would need to relook how it approached coalitions going forward.

“We need a model for coalitions in SA because there is just too much instability.”