By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) wants the exective mayor of Tshwane Cilliers Brink ousted through a motion of no confidence that will likely be debated on Friday.
The ANC in Gauteng have just wrestled back control of the City of Johannesburg council, and they have threatened to do the same in the capital.
The party have the most seats in the Tshwane council with 75, followed by the DA with 69.
The EFF, ActionSA and VF Plus have the next biggest blocks with 23, 19 and 17 seats, respectively.
ActionSA helped the ANC topple Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda last week, with ActionSA getting the Speaker’s position.
Fullview learnt Brink filed has filed papers to stop no confidence motion.
Action SA has pulled a no-show at today’s media briefing, leaving Brink vulnerable to his removal.
According to ActionSA’s provincial chairperson in Gauteng, Funzi Ngobeni, the office of City of Tshwane mayor, invited the party to join him in the media briefing to provide an update on the status of the multi-party coalition.
Ngobeni confirmed in a statement that the party has rejected the invite, citing that they are currently reviewing the party’s position in the DA-led Tshwane coalition.
“We wish to indicate that we are currently reviewing our position within the multi-party coalition and, as such, have declined the invitation from the coalition management committee to attend the press conference,” he said.
Ngobeni said the party had noticed what seems to be a deliberate campaign by the DA, which they believe to be disingenuous, and an insult to the co-operative and respectful engagement essential in any coalition agreement.
“We wish to indicate that, in response, we will not engage with or support this juvenile approach and will instead demonstrate the necessary maturity by formally engaging within the coalition framework.”
Meanwhile, in response to ActionSA’s remarks, Brink has urged all parties involved in the multi-party coalition to work together in maintaining the coalition government.
Let us preserve the progress that we have made. There is a chance to maintain this coalition (and) to continue the work that we started with,” he said during a media briefing.
The briefing was attended by the multi-party coalition partners, including the VF+, ACDP, IFP and COPE.
Grandi Theunissen, City of Tshwane FF Plus caucus leader, said they were willing to remain in the coalition with the DA. He said service delivery was effective in the city.
Theunissen said the coalition agreement signed by all parties involved had a dispute resolution mechanism. This mechanism has managed to settle all previous disputes.
He said the coalition management committee (CMC), comprising the leaderships of all parties involved, would discuss the dispute and often resolve it on the spot.
Brink stressed that there was no need to terminate their agreement. He added that he would keep engaging with the party’s leadership on this matter.
The Tshwane mayor noted that the motion of no confidence against him, which was brought last month, has resurfaced. This suggests that progress is being made in bettering lives of Tshwane residents.
“What I want us to achieve is to say ‘let us preserve the progress that we have made’. There’s still a lot of uncertainty about what exactly is going to happen with the motion of no confidence. What is going to happen in the future,” said Brink.
The service delivery issues range from water shortages, electricity cuts, crime, corruption, lack of infrastructure, and the high unemployment rate.
Tshwane is run by a coalition government consisting of the DA, IFP, ACDP, ActionSA, Freedom Front Plus (FF+), and Defenders of the People (DOP).