The ANC in Gauteng is holding crunch talks with political allies in the City of Ekurhuleni on who to field as its mayoral candidate. That follows the removal of DA councillor Tania Campbell as executive mayor through a motion of no confidence on Wednesday.
Following Campbell’s removal with 100 votes against 93, speaker Raymond Dhlamini said a special sitting would be called to elect a new mayor for the Ekurhuleni metro.
ANC Ekurhuleni spokesperson Lesiba Mpya said according to legislation, Dhlamini had to convene an extraordinary council meeting within seven days.
Mpya would not say who the ANC’s mayoral candidate would be as “those discussions are managed by the ANC Gauteng provincial executive committee”.
ANC Gauteng provincial secretary Thembinkosi “TK” Nciza said the party was still in “negotiations and engaging political parties” that voted with the ANC to remove Campbell.
“There is also an internal ANC process that we have to follow, but we should know by next week Wednesday who our mayoral candidate is going to be. As I’m chatting to you, we are busy in and out of meetings,” Nciza said.
The Ekurhuleni council has 224 seats and a clear majority of 50% plus 1 (113) is needed to pass crucial council items such as the budget and votes of no confidence. Of the 224, the ANC has 86 seats, DA 65, EFF 31, ActionSA 15, Freedom Front Plus 8, IFP 2 and ACDP 2, with smaller parties accounting for 10 seats.
The ANC’s motion of no confidence against Campbell passed with the help of the PA (which has four seats in council) and the smaller parties (AIC 3, ATM 1, COPE 1, ICM 1, IRASA 1, NFP 1, PAC 1, UDM 1) as the EFF, the kingmaker in the metro, abstained from the vote.
When asked if the party would be fielding its own mayoral candidate, ActionSA national chair Michael Beaumont said: “That’s not even a discussion that’s being ventilated in the organisation at the moment. It’s too early to give a response.”
DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said the party was still discussing what its next move should be. “We are still going to engage with our colleagues and partners [in council] over the next few days [to chart a way forward], but most probably we will be fielding somebody else [as our mayoral candidate],” Msimanga said.
EFF Gauteng chair Nkululeko Dunga said: “The EFF has not decided on that [fielding of a mayoral candidate]. We are going to have a caucus of the EFF on Sunday to deliberate on whether we are going to field a candidate or not.”
Campbell’s removal has again highlighted the instability of coalition governments, which political pundits say are shrouded in secrecy and are more about clinging to power than addressing service delivery concerns.
The ANC accused Campbell of failing to address service delivery challenges in the metro. In August, four people were killed after residents of Tembisa township set fire to the Ekurhuleni customer service centre and several cars in protests over high municipal rates and power cuts to defaulting customers.
Her removal on Wednesday came a day after the high court in Johannesburg confirmed DA councillor Mpho Phalatse as Johannesburg executive mayor, after her unlawful removal, also through a vote of no confidence, on September 30.
Gauteng premier and ANC provincial chair Panyaza Lesufi said on Wednesday that Campbell’s removal was aimed at strengthening democracy: “We are on the right track to stabilise the municipalities. You can’t have a minority ruling over a majority. This [DA-led coalition] is a minority government. Where else will you have a minority ruling over a majority? It can’t work.
“This is a minority government. We are rectifying it to have a majority government. When you have a majority government you’ve got stability and you can recruit the best talent. Part of stabilising [the metros] is to ensure that democracy prevails. There is nothing beyond democracy.”
Ekurhuleni, which has a budget of R51.2bn for the 2022/2023 financial year, together with Johannesburg and Tshwane, fell to DA-led coalitions during the 2021 municipal elections after the ANC’s national support fell below 50% for the first time since it became the first democratically elected government in 1994.
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