SA’s manufacturing heartland, Ekurhuleni, is at a tipping point after coalition partners the EFF and ActionSA rejected invitations to join ANC councillor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza’s mayoral committee.
In a move that cracks open the door to fresh coalition instability and further destabilises governance in the metro ahead of municipal elections later this year, the two allies turned down “peripheral” posts in the unity government.
Analysts warned the multiparty coalition running the metro is at risk of disintegrating after Xhakaza reshuffled his cabinet, stacking it with his ANC comrades who took up five crucial portfolios, while diminishing the EFF’s influence in his mayoral committee.
Xhakaza on Wednesday gave three councillors from the EFF and ActionSA just 12 hours to join his mayoral committee after they failed to attend a scheduled swearing-in ceremony. The ultimatum follows a late-night cabinet reshuffle announced on Tuesday.
“They are given 12 hours to avail themselves, failing which the metro leadership will take a decision on what should happen next,” acting mayoral spokesperson Ramatolo Tlotleng told Business Day on Wednesday.
Xhakaza defended the decision to reshuffle his team saying it was not taken lightly and is aimed at transforming the metro’s economy.
It was informed by realities facing the metro, the residents’ expectations and the urgent need to ensure the executive arm is fully aligned, fully functional and responsive to deliver on its mandate, he said.
The mayor said extensive consultations with parties represented in council were held. They were “substantive, candid and aimed at stabilising governance at Ekurhuleni”.
Regarding the EFF and ActionSA councillors, Xhakaza said: “We are giving them 12 hours to present an apology for not showing up. If they don’t show up we will have to be decisive because our people want us to work. The people of Ekurhuleni are not interested in political instability, internal disputes and other issues. They want us to work. They want us to fix the municipality.”
The Ekurhuleni council has 224 seats, with the ANC holding 86, the DA 65, EFF 31, ActionSA 15, Freedom Front Plus 8, IFP 2, ACDP 2 and other smaller parties jointly holding 10 seats.
While the ANC leads with 86 seats it still falls short of the requisite 113 to govern alone. The present coalition is made up of the ANC, EFF, ActionSA and PA, totalling 136 seats.
Control of the Ekurhuleni metro has changed hands from coalitions led by the ANC to the DA, AIC and back to the ANC since 2016 due to what has been attributed to the instability of coalitions.
The reshuffle saw Xhakaza’s ANC comrades taking up five crucial positions, including finance, utility services, and roads and transport, while diminishing the EFF’s presence in his cabinet from five portfolios to two.
He also included an ActionSA councillor, Xolani Khumalo, in his reshuffled cabinet, but the Herman Mashaba-led party rejected the offer and so did the EFF.
“Following repeated and unsuccessful attempts by mayor Xhakaza to solicit ActionSA’s participation in his administration, I have consistently made it clear that we will not join his failing government and have rejected every personal and formal approach made to us,” Mashaba said.
“Our position has been very clear on every occasion that we will not lend credibility to an administration that has overseen the lawless and deterioration of service delivery that continues to cripple the city.”
Mashaba said the people of Ekurhuleni are tired of dysfunction, lawlessness and what he described as the collapse of basic municipal services.
“ActionSA’s focus remains on restoring governance, cleaning out corruption, restoring the rule of law and fixing the fundamentals of service delivery. These are priorities we intend to implement when we secure a clear mandate from residents in the upcoming local government elections,” he said.
EFF spokesperson Sinawo Thambo said the party noted Xhakaza’s decision to “unilaterally remove EFF councillor Bridget Thusi as the MMC [mayoral committee member] for community services and EFF councillor Kgopelo Hollo as the MMC for human settlements”.
“Both of these MMCs have performed well in their portfolios and have been of exemplary service to the people of Ekurhuleni,” he said.
There has been growing tension between Xhakaza and the EFF. In June 2024, the executive mayor fired EFF Gauteng chair Nkululeko Dunga as finance MMC, replacing him with his ANC comrade Jongizizwe Dlabathi, who retained his position during the reshuffle on Tuesday evening.
The EFF was also unhappy when the ANC successfully fielded its councillor Dora Mlambo when the EFF’s Nthabiseng Tshivhenga resigned as speaker in December 2025. The EFF believed it was entitled to reclaim the position.
EFF leader Julius Malema has accused Xhakaza of going rogue and trying to push the EFF out of the metro, saying the red berets will reconsider its support for the ANC in Gauteng, in which premier Panyaza Lesufi governs through a minority government reliant on the EFF support, among others.
“The EFF informs the people of Ekurhuleni, Gauteng and South Africa that we have declined the offer to form part of the mayoral committee in the City of Ekurhuleni and will humbly and gracefully accept our role in the opposition benches,” Thambo said.
“We commend our MMCs for the work they have done in the City of Ekurhuleni and have full confidence that they will serve the people of the city well and continue to hold the executive in Ekurhuleni accountable.”
Political analyst Thabiso Maphosa said the coalition instability in Ekurhuleni has effectively brought the “ANC to its knees”.
“The coalition government in the metro will collapse and the ANC might find itself in opposition benches after the local government elections later this year,” Maphosa said.
Madlanga commission revelations
Maphosa said no opposition party wanted to associate itself with the ANC in Ekurhuleni due to the revelations of wrongdoing the Madlanga commission has unearthed against Ekurhuleni officials.
Nelson Mandela University political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said: “Most of these mayoral committees are used to dish out favours and reward those that have helped the mayor or the dominant party in one way or the other. These positions are used for musical chairs. Yes, sometimes parties don’t agree on the portfolios they want to serve in, but why should it be an issue which position you’re given?”
Breakfast said it would be “suicidal” for the ANC to be arrogant and adopt a take-it-or-leave-it approach.
“The provincial government might collapse. They have to go back to the negotiating table and engage with the EFF,” he said.
Update: February 18 2026
This story has been updated with new information.
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