ANC plots to oust DA in GP metros
ActionSA courted as party bids to add Tshwane and Ekurhuleni after its takeover of Joburg
● In a move that could topple all DA-led coalitions in Gauteng, the ANC is quietly courting the opposition ActionSA in an attempt to add Tshwane and Ekurhuleni to the Johannesburg prize it seized from an opposition coalition this week.
And for the first time since its launch, Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA seems more open to working with the ANC in spite of Mashaba’s insistence that he would work with anyone but the ANC. It now says it will talk to “all’’ political parties to form potential coalitions.
The ANC’s strategy to wrest back control of Gauteng’s metros paid off last week when Joburg’s DA mayor Mpho Phalatse was ousted and replaced by the ANC’s Dada Moreno.
The DA, crying foul, has taken the matter to the courts to contest the outcome. Its federal chair Helen Zille says the party has a strategy to counter the ANC’s moves, but would not give details.
ActionSA’s surprise shift in Gauteng’s metros has implications for the 2024 national elections, showing up the instability of coalition arrangements and possibly throwing the ANC a lifeline, which could boost its chances of forming a national coalition in 2024.
The Sunday Times understands that ActionSA and the ANC are having informal talks that, if successful, could see the DA becoming the opposition in Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.
This comes after the ANC successfully reclaimed the Johannesburg metro last week with the help of the EFF and Patriotic Alliance (PA) which ditched the DA-led coalition to join the ANC.
ActionSA national chair Michael Beaumont this week told the Sunday Times that by saying they were going to be talking to all political parties, including the ANC, it did not necessarily mean they would go into a coalition with them.
“The point we’re trying to [make] in
these discussions is to say political parties have to start talking to one another in these coalitions, and the reality is the model of coalitions where there are partners and enemies hasn’t done well from a stability point of view,” Beaumont said.
ANC insiders in the province told the Sunday Times they were confident the negotiations with ActionSA would bear fruit.
The insiders said the ANC had considered supporting an EFF bid to govern Tshwane in exchange for their support in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, but ActionSA coming to the table had put a spanner in the works.
An ANC Gauteng insider said the Ekurhuleni takeover was coming in the next few weeks, with Tshwane to follow by the end of the year.
“It’s easy, Ekurhuleni is next. We will have Christmas in three metros,” the insider said.
ANC Gauteng provincial executive committee member Lebogang Maile confirmed the party was making moves to reclaim the metros from the DA.
“We can confirm that we are talking with everyone with a view to take back power in Ekurhuleni and Tshwane from the arrogant DA,” Maile said.
“We are engaging because we are interested in municipalities in our province being run better.
“We understand that we have not won elections with a clear majority and therefore we are not arrogant.
“We have led a stable and peaceful coalition for a full five-year term [2016-2021] in Ekurhuleni, unlike the DA. Look at Johannesburg, it collapsed because of the DA arrogance. The ANC has never been arrogant, we are humble and treat everyone with respect because we do not have an outright majority.”
An ANC insider said the party was adamant about governing in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni and it would consider giving Tshwane to either the EFF or ActionSA. However, Maile said the party was not yet at the stage of deciding who to give what.
“There is no such thing. We are talking to everyone and we do not know what will come up because the demands of parties are different from one municipality to the next,” Maile said.
“We are not arrogant but we are openminded. And we are not entitled to anything ... [these are] rumours that we do not want to entertain. We will work with people and parties that want clean government, accelerated service delivery and accountability.”
The public spat that took place in the DAled coalition that led to the ANC regaining power in Johannesburg was proof that there was a need for all political parties to talk, Beaumont said, to avoid perpetual motions of no confidence and changes of government.
“A classic example, Ekurhuleni is a minority coalition government and because of the failure of people to reach across the aisle and not go into coalition with the ANC or EFF but to strike up the ability to approve budgets and defend motions of no confidence, that minority coalition government will fall the minute the ANC and EFF act to bring a motion of no confidence,” he said.
The Sunday Times understands that the ANC is considering an ActionSA-led government in Tshwane as part of its strategy to further isolate the DA.
But Beaumont said it was too early to say what the discussions with the ANC and other parties would yield.
He said ActionSA would, from Monday, engage its constituency before making any decisions.
He did, however, concede that there were informal talks between the parties and its senate this week heard views on an ActionSA-ANC pact.
“I think we need to differentiate between discussion and decision. Discussion is something for which a lot of perspectives were put forward in our senate, and some individuals may have aired those opinions and others aired other opinions,” he said.
“I think the point is the decision to review recognises that we are in a coalition ... in which the DA as the largest party in that coalition has embarked on a series of decisions and decision-making that in our opinion has brought instability into the coalition.”
The PA ditched the DA-led coalition after the DA refused to revise its signed coalition agreement to give it another MMC position and hand over the speaker position in Johannesburg to another coalition partner, the IFP.
Zille this week said: “The fact a coalition agreement, that took months to negotiate, can simply be tossed aside at the whim of any party when it suits them [means they] are not worth the paper they are written on. This meant in Johannesburg, when the ANC made a more attractive offer to the PA, it did not hesitate to accept it”.
Zille rejected the charge that the DA was arrogant in refusing to let go of the speaker position in Johannesburg, saying “people start using labels in politics when they have run out of rational arguments”.
“There is nothing arrogant at all about expecting people to stick to negotiated and signed agreements.”
“This is not true. Not all parties were pointing a finger at the DA. Those who wanted to renegotiate the coalition agreement, seven months after it was signed, in the middle of a huge threat to our government, have sought to scapegoat the DA. But this is just a smokescreen to hide the real motive.”