ANC loses coalition partner in Bitou

Council hung after Active United Front terminates deal

BITOU, in the Plettenberg Bay area, has become a hung Western Cape council following the announcement by its mayor that the coalition agreement between the Active United Front (AUF) and the ANC has ended.

Bitou Municipality mayor Peter Lobese, who is a member of the AUF, announced that the decision was partly taking a stand with the rest of the country in protest against President Jacob Zuma.

Lobese said the decision was also based on a crumbling relationship with the ANC in Bitou over the past seven months.

The AUF and ANC had been in a coalition since last year’s local government elections, in which the DA won six council seats, the ANC six and the AUF one.

Following the coalition agreement, Lobese was inaugurated as mayor.

“I join the rest of South Africans home and abroad who are troubled and pained by this ‘rogue’ president to make the point that our country cannot afford him and nothing must be done to assist him to continue being in office even for one day,” Lobese said. “This includes calling all parties like the AUF who are in coalition with the ANC in various municipalities to act in solidarity with the rest of South Africans and pull out of these coalitions as we did.”

He did not indicate what the implications for the municipality would be, or if the AUF planned to form a coalition with another party and said he would address the media today.

Lobese said the coalition with the ANC in Bitou had been guided by the “central objective of serving the people of Bitou”.

“It has been almost impossible in the past seven months to operate with singlemindedness with the colleagues in the ANC. More often than not, any attempt at the establishment of clean administration and committing resources to address the difficulties faced by our people has been thwarted by those in leadership of the ANC whose principal task seems to be to divert the public resources into their private pockets. They have in our view positioned themselves firmly in competition, or as enemies of the people we are required to serve.”

Lobese said he had hoped this would subside and that the ANC’s national leadership would intervene, but the events around Zuma over the past week had “destroyed any hope”. The “wanton disregard” of the country’s constitution compelled him to question the relevance and basis of the AUF’s coalition.

Acting ANC regional secretary Victor Molosi confirmed the coalition termination, but said he could not comment on the matter as the information had not filtered through to the regional or provincial ANC leadership.

DA constituency head in Bitou Donald Grant said coalition talks with the AUF were under way.