Tshwane is on Wednesday expected to elect a new mayor amid uncertainty about whether the ANC would receive enough votes to have its candidate and former regional chair, Kgosi Maepa, elected the metro’s first citizen.
The ANC, which holds 75 of the 214 seats in council, would need the support of its partners, including the EFF (23 seats) and ActionSA (19), jointly accounting for 117 votes and more than enough to pass the 50.1% threshold.
DA councillor Cilliers Brink was removed as executive mayor through an ANC-sponsored motion of no confidence on September 26. The motion passed after the ANC, EFF and ActionSA voted together in support of the motion.
The ANC said on Tuesday that the DA’s demand that Brink be reinstalled was a step too far.
While the government of national unity (GNU) “continues to inspire ... and we do need local unity to urgently address the service delivery concerns of all residents of Tshwane, the DA’s approach on Brink is not acceptable. What we will do is have an inclusive and viable coalition with those that choose to vote with us,” ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said.
However, on the eve of the vote for a mayor in Tshwane coalition talks were still continuing and alliances seem to be shifting.
When Brink was removed, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba told journalists the ANC was amenable to a proposal that ActionSA councillor Nasiphi Moya — who served as Brink’s deputy — be elected as the next Tshwane mayor.
When contacted for comment regarding which mayoral candidate the party would back, Mashaba would not be drawn on the matter. He stressed, however, that a new mayor would be elected on Wednesday. He would not say whether ActionSA would field its own candidate or would support the ANC’s.
DA federal council chair Helen Zille said the party would renominate Brink to continue the work of turning Tshwane around. “Brink was an excellent mayor. We are renominating him; we are all going to vote for him again. He has been an excellent politician, he has provided sound leadership,” she said.
Under Brink, Tshwane’s audit outcome improved for the first time in years. That was no mean feat given the state of the city’s finances. It owes Eskom more than R3bn and there are doubts over its ability to fund future operations, according to the latest report by auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke.
Zille said: “In principle, the DA is going to support its candidate. If he [Brink] succeeds he succeeds. We are putting up his name and we are voting for him.”
The DA’s coalition partners in Tshwane include the IFP, African Christian Democratic Party, Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and Defenders of the People.
Zille said there had been lots of talks behind the scenes. “Currently we are in a situation where the ANC in the province does not agree with the ANC at national level ... There are divisions in the ANC, that’s the problem. They are divided, they have not got a clear position.”
She said the DA had withdrawn from negotiations with the ANC in all other metros “around stabilising those metros”.
“We’ve been talking with the ANC about Nelson Mandela [Bay], eThekwini, about Ekurhuleni and about Tshwane,” she said, adding this had a direct effect on the government of national unity though it did not make the GNU unstable.
“There’s a difference between the ANC in Gauteng and the ANC at national. They are not the same ANC. And the problem that we are facing is that [ANC Gauteng chair and premier Panyaza] Lesufi does not want the DA to govern Tshwane,” Zille added.
Meanwhile, the FF+ said it would vote for DA on Wednesday. “We will support the DA candidate, Cilliers Brink. We did not support the motion of no confidence against him. There are no official talks between us and the ANC. They have requested talks with the national leadership, but have not followed up on it,” said the party’s leader, Pieter Groenewald.
With Hajra Omarjee and Natasha Marrian
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