EFF, ANC disagree over Ekurhuleni mayor post
Both parties want their candidate to take top job
Fierce disagreements within the ANC caucus in the City of Ekurhuleni over the party’s support for EFF mayoral candidate Nkululeko Dunga scuppered the election of a new mayor yesterday.
Tensions were so high during lastminute horse-trading talks between ANC and EFF provincial and national bosses that neither party was willing to relent on their mayoral candidate. The council meeting will be reconvened in seven days.
ANC insiders said party members in Ekurhuleni could not agree to backing EFF Gauteng chairperson Dunga as mayor of the metro, with some saying they couldn’t be held to “ransom” by the EFF, which has only 31 seats in the council.
This was despite an apparent push apparently from the provincial bosses to do so.
Caucus members who spoke to Sowetan said Ekurhuleni regional chairperson Mzwandile Masina was one of the more vocal people who were fiercely opposed to the region backing Dunga. Masina withdrew from the mayoral race saying he was not available.
ANC Gauteng chairperson Panyaza Lesufi and his secretary, TK Nciza, were locked in a last-minute meeting with EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu and secretary-general Marshall Dlamini. Talks are said to have been escalated to the ANC’s national bosses.
One ANC Ekurhuleni regional insider said: “We can’t be held to ransom by the EFF. They want mayor or nothing. Can you imagine us working with the EFF? If they want to be in government they must be willing to come to us and compromise, not the other way round.”
Speaking to Sowetan after yesterday’s meeting was adjourned, Masina said the ANC had its own mayoral candidate whom they would reveal in seven days’ time.
“We can’t reveal the candidate of the ANC for now. We need to protect him for the next seven days but we will unveil the candidate of the ANC and I believe the ANC will be back at the helm.
“Negotiations are still ongoing but primarily there was no agreement on the table, so we’ve got to find each other because it’s not just about putting a mayor but putting a sustainable government,” he said.
Masina added: “The ANC put the motion because we wanted to take over. We have a mayoral candidate of the ANC.
“That’s the whole point. We could not have put a motion for another party unless there is something fundamental they bring that can assist the ANC because unfortunately we lost the metro here.”
Yesterday’s council meeting was a crucial moment for the ANC and EFF’s relationship in Gauteng. The ANC is relying on the EFF in the City of Johannesburg to re-elect Dada Morero as mayor of Joburg if and when the party passes a motion of no confidence against mayor Mpho Phalatse.
EFF leader Julius Malema has previously said the party wants to take some power and that they have been “in training for too long”.
Dunga would not be drawn into revealing the EFF’s candidate but said: “If there are any talks we’re hoping they get finalised. The EFF contests elections to govern. We’re worried but hope to get this process over and done with.”
DA provincial leader Solly Msimanga accused the ANC and EFF of flip-flopping in Ekurhuleni and leaving the council in limbo at the expense of service delivery.
IFP Gauteng secretary and former roads and transport MMC Alco Ngobese said it was quite clear the motion of no confidence was submitted prematurely.
“We’re just disappointed we couldn’t elect the mayor today and as result don’t have mayoral committee and departments aren’t able to deliver service to the poorest of the poor.”