Moves afoot to unseat Bay coalition government
The Northern Alliance is in talks to remove itself from the DA-led coalition and hopes to form a new government with the ANC, EFF and Patriotic Alliance in Nelson Mandela Bay.
These talks are at an advanced stage, according to the Patriotic Alliance and EFF.
But the ANC is holding its cards close to its chest as some party members confirmed a new government was imminent while another said it was early days.
“These smaller parties are keener. No decision has been made,” an ANC insider said.
Another ANC insider said though the intention was to try to file a petition to call for a special council meeting soon, negotiations were ongoing, with two parties vying for the mayoral chains.
“Our priority as a party is that there should be a change of government,” the insider said.
“Currently, there are two parties that have shown interest in the mayorship, which are the ANC and Northern Alliance.”
If the Northern Alliance were to withdraw its three councillors from the coalition government, it would be left without a majority in the 120member council — with only 59 seats.
This could pave the way for the ANC (48 seats), EFF (8) and PA (2) to try to take control.
Northern Alliance president and council speaker Gary van Niekerk said talks were continuing with opposition parties.
“The Northern Alliance’s interest is to improve the life of people in the northern areas.
“To meet that end, we will talk to any party we need to talk to,” he said.
The party threatened to pull out of the coalition earlier this year over a load-shedding reduction strategy championed by Van Niekerk but which did not find much favour with other partners.
Van Niekerk also complained about the disparity between service delivery in the northern areas and western suburbs.
According to a Northern Alliance insider, the last straw for the party was when Bay mayor Retief Odendaal reshuffled his mayoral committee and assigned no position to their party.
The first task for the parties gunning to take control will be to file the petition and then motions of no confidence in the mayor, deputy mayor and chief whip.
Van Niekerk will then have to call a special council meeting within 10 working days for a debate and a vote.
ANC regional chair Babalwa Lobishe could not be reached for comment.
ANC acting regional secretary Eugene Johnson said any negotiations were handled at a provincial level.
“I am not in a position to comment. I am not [clear] at this stage about the process. We are not handling that.”
She referred questions to ANC provincial spokesperson Loyiso Magqashela or provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi.
Ngcukayitobi did not respond to questions while Magqashela referred The Her
ald back to Johnson. However, she could not be reached for further comment.
Despite the instability caused by a potential third change in government in just two years, EFF councillor Khanya Ngqisha said it was unpalatable to continue having a DA mayor who was not transparent when dealing with allegations surrounding deputy mayor Khusta Jack’s business dealings with the metro.
Jack has denied any wrongdoing.
“We are hoping everything is done as soon as possible, the worst-case scenario will be by the end of next week,” Ngqisha said.
While the parties jostle for a change in government, the DA is still trying to fend off a Section 12 notice gazetted by cooperative governance MEC Zolile Williams last year.
Williams is seeking to replace the metro’s mayoral executive system with a collective executive which would result in the ANC and DA being allocated four seats each in a 10person committee.
The matter is before the courts.
Patriotic Alliance national chair Marlon Daniels denied that his party’s “divorce” from the ANC in Johannesburg had any bearing on negotiations in the Bay.
Party leader Gayton McKenzie announced on Wednesday that it would no longer support the ANC-led coalition in Johannesburg with controversial Al Jama-ah councillor Thapelo Amad as mayor.
“The pronunciation by our leader only spoke about punishing the ANC in Johannesburg,” Daniels said.
“In the past, we had spoken about removing the ANC in the Northern Cape and that did not have any bearing on any other negotiations.”
Pressed on why the party was keen to remove Odendaal, Daniels said the Patriotic Alliance had been rebuffed several times when making suggestions.
“While we may not form part of a mayoral executive we also have a stake in service delivery by having councillors,” he said.
Odendaal, however, said he was confident that the coalition would continue to govern until such time as the petition was submitted.
“The residents know what chaos the city was in when we took over. We lost R300m in grant funding,” he said.
“We have met every legislative commitment. There is not a single report outstanding for the council.
“Anyone can see the improvement across the city by looking at the improvements in key performance targets in the midterm report.”
Coalition chair and FF+ councillor Bill Harington said those parties willing to jump ship should remind themselves of the ANC’s track record in governance.
“We are amid a Section 12 attack precisely because of the ANC provincial government and one of the arguments is that the city has an unstable government record, precisely so that coalition governments do not last long.”