‘No sense for 3-seat party to preside over mayor position’ – Dlabathi
The ANC in Ekurhuleni has warned against what it calls a "subversion of democracy" by giving minority parties the mayoral chain as part of coalition agreements.
The festering tensions between the ANC and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Ekurhuleni erupted into a physical clash in council last month – bringing council proceedings to a violent halt.
READ MORE: EFF accuses ANC councillors of 'thuggish behaviour' in Ekurhuleni
On Tuesday, regional task team coordinator Jongizizwe Dlabathi reiterated calls for the council sitting set to debate an Action SA-sponsored motion of no confidence against Mayor Sivuyile Ngodwana to reconvene.
According to Dlabathi, parties in the multi-party pact have signed a petition pushing for the meeting to be held sooner rather than later.
“There is a petition that should reach the office of the speaker in due course, where parties in the multiparty are calling for the meeting to sit. We can’t wait forever.”
Dlabathi clarified that the ANC in council has not overtly supported the motion to oust the executive mayor, but instead proposed amendments to it.
The ANC occupies 86 of the 224 council seats, while the EFF holds 31.
The marriage between the two was off to a rocky start when they reached a stalemate over a replacement for the Democratic Alliance’s Tania Campbell, who was eventually ousted at the second attempt in March 2022.
This prompted the intervention of the ANC provincial structure, led by Chairperson Panyaza Lesufi and Provincial Secretary TK Nciza.
READ MORE: ‘The plug must be pulled’ – ANC Ekurhuleni ready to ditch EFF partnership
Like in the ANC-EFF agreement in the City of Johannesburg, a mayor was selected from smaller parties and that saw the African Independent Congress’s Ngodwana’s ascension to the mayoral seat.
Dlabathi said this was not only against the ANC’s own coalition guidelines framework, which it adopted in April after the Ekurhuleni deal was sealed, but that the current situation served as a lesson that this was not the best approach.
“It makes no logical sense to have a party that has three PR seats to preside over the position of the executive mayor. You are simply subverting democracy. The party that has the most ward councillors is the ANC, followed by the DA, and the Patriotic Alliance in our case…It’s not ideal in our current situation.”
The ANC’s provincial office was not available for comment despite agreeing to an interview, and questions posed to the chair of the party’s coalition committee chair David Makhura via text message went unanswered.
Meanwhile, the EFF’s Gauteng spokesperson Dumisani Baleni said they won’t be commenting on the matter, adding that they would wait to see how council proceedings would unfold.
