ANC clinches Gauteng metro; deals with AIC, PAC
ANC leaders are relieved that all is not lost in Gauteng’s metros.
The party finally clinched deals with two opposition parties to vote for the ANC’s mayoral candidate in Ekurhuleni Metro.
“Mzwandile Masina will be elected mayor,” said sources close to talks between the ANC, the African Independent Congress (AIC) and the PAC.
The two opposition parties which have four seats and one respectively would vote alongside the ANC. This will ensure that the governing party secures the 50 plus 1 percent required to control the metro when it convenes the inaugural council meeting on Tuesday.
The parties have also agreed that the positions of council speaker and chief whip will be held by the ANC.
Independent Media has seen a letter written by AIC general secretary Steven Jafta, dated August 18, in which he told his provincial leadership and councillors to vote for the ANC in coalition governments.
According to insiders, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe played an instrumental role in forging the coalitions.
Independent Media understands that the formal agreement between the ANC and AIC was struck on August 14 following the culmination of the ANC’s four-day national executive committee meeting.
In that meeting, the ANC was represented by Mantashe, Jeff Radebe (ANC NEC member), Jessie Duarte (ANC deputy secretary general), Zweli Mkhize (ANC treasurer general) while the AIC was represented by its president Mandla Galo, Jafta and others.
Initially, the sources said, Galo wanted the ANC to give them a guarantee that Matatiele would be reincorporated into KwaZulu-Natal to bring to an end a 14-year-old battle to do so.
The Sunday Tribune has also seen a letter written by Mantashe to the AIC confirming the contents of the August 14 St George Hotel agreement.
Sources close to the situation said senior AIC leaders had agreed to the deal. “It was for that reason that the AIC general secretary wrote to his branches to vote for the ANC. It was for those reasons the AIC voted for the ANC in Rustenburg where the ANC retained control of the municipality on Friday,” a source said.
Independent Media also understands that ANC leaders in Ekurhuleni have agreed with the AIC to train the new councillors to set up their caucus in the council.
It appears the PAC, on the other hand, has been promised MMC posts.
The PAC has also asked the ANC to prioritise the release of more than 120 members of its military wing serving at various jails across the country. They also wanted the ANC to speed up land restitution cases including finding suitable land for human settlement especially for people living in informal settlements in Barcelona and Daveyton and other parts of the East Rand.
The collective agreement between the three parties would ensure that Masina got the 114 majority seats which would allow him to form a government.
The pro ANC agreement in Ekurhuleni came after opposition parties, including the EFF, in Tshwane managed to ensure that the DA’s Solly Msimanga was elected mayor. Msimanga was elected unopposed. A similar agreement of coalition parties was reached at the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro in Port Elizabeth where the DA’s Athol Trollip was elected mayor.
Another similar coalition agreement saw Mogale City Local Municipality in Krugersdorp having its first DA mayor, Lynn Pannall, ending the ANC’s 16-year reign.
However, the coalition of opposition parties in Rustenburg failed to get a similar result. In Rustenburg, Mpho Khunou retained his ANC mayoral position. Khunou was challenged by former Bophuthatswana army commander and disgruntled ANC member Malebane Metsing who lost by two votes.
Metsing was a candidate for the ANC North West breakaway faction, the Forum for Service Delivery.
Last night, however, the ANC in Johannesburg was locked in meetings with opposition parties with the hope of retaining power when the City of Joburg convenes its inaugural council meeting tomorrow.
Already, the AIC has agreed to ensure that its new four councillors in Joburg vote for Parks Tau to retain the mayoral seat.
The ANC is also hoping that the EFF votes for them if the DA insists on retaining Herman Mashaba as its mayoral candidate.