The withdrawal of ActionSA from the Tshwane multi-party coalition has plunged the City of Tshwane into political instability, and now threatens the future of the capital city. The DA will, however, not abandon Tshwane residents.
Despite the successes achieved by the Tshwane coalition in the past 18 months, ActionSA’s dismal performance in the 2024 general election seems to have driven the party to realign itself to a faction of the ANC opposed to the Government of National Unity (GNU) as well as the EFF.
The same ANC faction, led by Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, resisted efforts to form a Government of Provincial Unity, and have championed the ANC’s disastrous coalitions with the EFF in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.
In response to Mashaba’s turn against the DA and our coalition partners in Tshwane, the DA’s national leadership approached the national leadership of the ANC to seek a stability pact across Gauteng metros.
We have made several attempts to persuade the ANC to withdraw the motion of no confidence against Mayor Cilliers Brink. The motion was first initiated in July this year, and the Lesufi faction of the ANC have been hard at work to drive a wedge between Tshwane coalition partners. In Mashaba, it found a useful idiot.
Had the motion of no confidence been withdrawn, it would have given the DA and the ANC the opportunity to discuss options for how Tshwane and other Gauteng metros could be stabilised. Such an arrangement would have been in the interest of residents, and in furtherance of the aims of the GNU.
The key successful factor for the GNU is economic growth, and metros are essential to growth. Unfortunately all attempts to reach a settlement with the ANC have failed, and the DA has been informed that the ANC will join forces with the EFF and ActionSA to remove Mayor Brink from office.
This destroys any possibility of an agreement between the DA and the ANC to stabilise Gauteng metros, and is a repeat of failed attempts to form a Government of Provincial Unity in Gauteng.
It is now clear that the provincial executive committee of the ANC in Gauteng has the upper hand in internal ANC power relations, despite leading the party to a dismal result in the 2024 general election.
This does not bode well for the Government of National Unity, as it shows the fragility of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership. It is also an indication of the power of anti-GNU forces in the ANC to determine political outcomes.
With the support of the EFF and ActionSA, the motion of no confidence in Mayor Brink will succeed. This will enable the Lesufi faction of the ANC to collude with the EFF and the manipulatable, politically incompetent ActionSA to gain control of the Tshwane Metro.
This is the same ANC faction that succeeded in dissolving the city council and placing the municipality under administration in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 lockdown, a move eventually overturned by the Constitutional Court.
Prior to this power grab the Tshwane Metro had a budget surplus of R200 million, but the ANC provincial administrators, which included a former mayor of the West Rand District, left the city with a budget deficit exceeding R4 million.
In fact, many of Tshwane financial woes, including the breakdown of systems and controls, can be traced back to the ANC Gauteng power grab in 2020. This mirrors the more than R20 billion budget deficit now faced by the ANC Gauteng government.
Mashaba and ActionSA have placed this ANC faction, along with their EFF allies, at the center of power in Tshwane. The DA would not be surprised if ActionSA takes the further steps of aligning itself to the so-called progressive caucus, which includes the EFF and MK, in the coming months.
If Mayor Brink is removed from office, the DA will field him again as mayoral candidate in a subsequent election. If we do not win, we will return to the opposition benches. It will be a great pity, and a waste opportunity, but a reality of the deep divisions in the ANC.
Until the ANC is able to overcome these divisions, we will be compelled to play the role of an effective opposition. We will also make every attempt to protect the residents of the City of Tshwane against the abuses of Lesufi/EFF faction, including:
Attempts to reverse disciplinary action against the five senior officials implicated in the Edwin Sodi/Rooiwal tender.
Attempts to remove professional, non-political senior managers appointed by the Tshwane multi-party coalition who do not fit into cadre deployment plans.
Attempts to unlawfully interfere in the administration of the City of Tshwane, including in tenders, especially those related to waste removal as well as security of assets.
We will be ready to approach the courts, if necessary, to prevent the City of Tshwane from being destroyed from within. We will not abandon the people of Tshwane, even if circumstances temporarily force us out of government.