The multiparty coalition running Tshwane on Tuesday welcomed DA mayor Randall Williams’ resignation as executive, saying it is an important step in stabilising and ensuring the future of the multiparty coalition running SA’s capital city.
The parties reaffirmed their commitment to sustain the coalition to ensure it kept the ANC out of the metro.
Williams resigned with immediate effect on Monday, saying his untimely exit was in the best interests of the multiparty coalition including the IFP, ActionSA, COPE, ACDP and Freedom Front Plus.
However, just hours later in another statement, Williams said that after consultation with various political parties his resignation will take effect from February 28.
“During this period I have requested that member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for finance and leader of executive business alderman Peter Sutton take on the role of acting executive mayor,” Williams said.
Williams’ resignation comes months after the coalition issued a joint statement last August, agreeing to an independent investigation after allegations surfaced that Williams interfered in a R26bn energy investment proposal for the metro. The unsolicited bid was for refurbishing the city-owned Rooiwal and Pretoria West power stations.
The ANC and other smaller parties in council criticised Randall after auditor-general (AG) Tsakani Maluleke’s report on the 2021/2022 financial year said that Tshwane did not have adequate systems for identifying and disclosing all irregular expenditure, which the metro put at more than R10.4bn.
In a statement on behalf of the multiparty coalition on Tuesday, Dr Cornè Mulder, said: “On 10 January 2023, the coalition’s oversight group met and communicated our resolve to ensure that the adverse audit outcome is met with consequences that differentiates the leadership of this coalition from the ANC’s track record of defending the indefensible.
“The focus of this group of political parties shifted immediately to the imperative of electing a suitable mayor that can provide the leadership required to address the serious issues facing the residents of Tshwane. Clear steps have been outlined about how the AG’s audit findings will be addressed, for which political leadership will be essential.”
Mulder said the coalition dealt with the views of the “two resignation letters” received from Williams, “recognising that it is the legally defined role of the speaker to obtain the necessary legal advice on this matter and its implications. The coalition shall await his ruling in this respect”.
“The signed coalition agreement requires the DA, as the party proposing a new candidate for mayor, to consult the multiparty coalition once it has undergone its internal processes to select a new mayoral candidate. All coalition partners spoke of the need for leadership capable of addressing the governance concerns identified by the AG.
“All political parties of this coalition re-affirmed their commitment to sustaining this multiparty coalition to ensure that it governs for the benefit of all residents and keeps the ANC out of the City of Tshwane. Parties were unequivocal in this commitment.”
SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) Tshwane regional chair Nkhetheni Muthavhi said Williams will be remembered for being responsible “for the city’s R10bn irregular expenditure and R1bn fruitless and wasteful expenditure as reported by the auditor-general”.
He said Samwu, an affiliate of Cosatu, which is part of the ANC-led tripartite alliance, was not happy that the mayor “denied municipal workers their 3.5% salary increase in 2021 as agreed by parties in the SA Local Government Bargaining Council”.
Samwu, the biggest trade union in the local government sector representing more than 260,000 municipal workers, called on all political parties represented in the council to put aside their differences and elect a mayor “who cares for service delivery and workers alike”.
“The city has been through rough times since 2020. Political parties need to focus their energies on revitalising the city to its former glory. Workers and residents of the city are tired of politicking. They need a government that will work for them, a government that is people-centred,” Muthavhi said.
Williams was elected mayor in October 2020 after Stevens Mokgalapa resigned from the post in the wake of a sex scandal with erstwhile member of the mayoral committee for transport Stella Senkubuge.
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