The pain of losing Gauteng metros to its newfound bedfellows in the government of national unity (GNU) must cut deep for the DA as it is relegated to the periphery of power before the much-anticipated municipal elections in 24 months.
That the DA was kicked to the curb in the three metros it once governed after the 2021 local government elections is a big blow for a party still grappling with polarising issues of identity and race that have resulted in an exodus of black leaders in the recent past.
It was a significant psychological victory for the blue party when it swept to power in the administrative capital of Tshwane, the industrial hub of Ekurhuleni, and the financial and economic centre of Johannesburg, putting the provincial ANC — which its own national leadership described as a corrupt sinking ship dogged by a trust deficit — firmly on the back foot.
There seemed to be no way back for the party of Oliver Tambo. In Gauteng the ANC declined from 50% to 34% during the recent provincial election, forcing it to resort to underhanded tactics to sneak back into power through the back door. After all, politics is a dirty numbers game; he who has the numbers prevails.
The recent, unceremonious removal of Cilliers Brink as Tshwane mayor through an ANC-engineered motion of no confidence robbed the DA of the opportunity to prove its mettle in the build-up to the 2026 elections. This explains why DA federal council chair Helen Zille will never forgive ANC Gauteng chair Panyaza Lesufi, who turned the screws on her party.
Lesufi is premier of Gauteng, the country’s economic and financial hub contributing about 40% to national GDP. Its three metros control billions of rand in capital and operational budgets aimed at delivering — occasionally — municipal services to the province’s more than 15-million residents.
Key player
Lesufi, a staunch critic of the GNU, which Zille describes as a coalition between the ANC and DA, is a central figure who has been instrumental in causing the revolving door of mayors in the Gauteng metros. The Thembisa native’s shadow loomed large when the decision was made to install ANC Johannesburg chair Dada Morero as mayor of the city on August 16.
Lesufi has also been credited with making sure long-serving ANC councillor Nkosindiphile “Doctor” Xhakaza emerged as Ekurhuleni mayor on April 11. And he was a key player in the negotiations in which Brink was removed as Tshwane mayor on September 26 and succeeded by his former deputy, ActionSA councillor Nasiphi Moya, on October 9.
Before Brink’s removal Lesufi stood as a bulwark against all attempts to include the DA in his 10-member executive as part of the government of provincial unity.
While the ANC’s national structure was initially said to be keen to include the DA in the government of provincial unity, it was Lesufi’s will that prevailed in the end. After all, the ANC in Gauteng is known to be the tail that wags the dog.
In the events leading up to Moya’s election last week, Zille complained about divisions within the ANC over its relationship with the DA, saying the Gauteng ANC “does not agree with the ANC at national level”.
“There’s a difference between the ANC in Gauteng and the ANC at national [level]. They are not the same ANC. And the problem that we are facing is that Lesufi does not want the DA to govern Tshwane,” Zille said.
Strings pulled
In a subsequent statement after Moya’s election, Brink said she would be in office but not in power. “Her strings will be pulled by the ANC’s Gauteng factions and the EFF. This is not a commentary on her skills or qualifications. She was a capable deputy mayor in the Tshwane multiparty coalition, which her party brought to a fall,” Brink said.
“Having delivered Tshwane to the ANC and the EFF, ActionSA will become insignificant in the battle for resources that has also taken place in other cities where the parties govern together.”
Brink was booted out after sustained allegations from ActionSA, the EFF and ANC that the DA tended to focus on affluent areas in dispensing municipal services, to the detriment of townships. Such allegations have been a monkey on the DA’s back for years, following the party wherever it governs, including in the Western Cape where it dominates.
The DA should do some serious introspection and ask hard questions about these enduring allegations and take corrective steps, because in the end bad optics are political suicide.
• Mkentane is political correspondent
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