Major shake-up coming for Gauteng metros

Despite vowing to never work with the African National Congress (ANC) and declining the offer to join the Government of National Unity, ActionSA says it will now support the party in Joburg.
A shake-up in the composition of the executive of the City of Johannesburg is beginning to take shape, with the other Gauteng metros of Ekurhuleni and Tshwane expected follow.
ActionSA – a party which sports a significant portion of seats in the three fragmented Gauteng metro councils – announced at a press briefing on 22 July that it will now support the ANC in the City of Johannesburg to form a new government.
The party said it will support the ANC in Johannesburg on several conditions, namely:
- The removal of Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda;
- Immediate reversal of the R200 surcharge imposed by City Power on prepaid users;
- Introduction of a series of motions aimed at addressing key frontline service delivery issues, including infrastructure renewal and rejuvenation of the Inner City;
- Have the ANC facilitate the resignation of the current ATM Speaker in the City of Tshwane.
The party said that this agreement is not a coalition agreement, as it would not take up any seats in the executive and remain a “constructive opposition.”
However, in exchange for their support, Action SA would “take up a number of positions in the legislature so that we have the platform to hold any new government to account.”
“Once we have concluded [with the formation of a new government in Johannesburg], we will move on to Ekurhuleni and Tshwane,” said ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba.
ActionSA chairperson Michael Beaumont said that this was spurred after the ANC approached the party to solicit their support for a new government in the City of Johannesburg, given that they hold a crucial 44 out of the 270 seats in the council.
“We will supply our 44 votes in Johannesburg metro to the government on an issue-by-issue basis, with the meritorious consideration of the issue at hand only,” Beaumont said.
Johannesburg
Johannesburg is currently governed by self-titled government of local unity (GLU) (a coalition between the ANC, Economic Freedom Fighters [EFF], Patriotic Alliance [PA] and minority parties) under the leadership of Al-Jama ah’s Kabelo Gwamanda.
However, the GLU has increasingly been at odds with itself, which was exacerbated since the formation of the national GNU, which excludes some of the key GLU partners, including the EFF.
Notably, the EFF has recently not voted with its coalition partners in Johannesburg, particularly on the proposal of an R2.5-billion loan from the Agence Française de Développement spearheaded by the ANC, which caused some friction.
Over time, there has been mounting pressure for the Al-Jama ah mayor (who is one of three councillors from his party in the council) to step down.
Recently, the Johannesburg Crisis Alliance, made up of numerous civil society organisations, demanded Gwamanda’s resignation, citing “inadequate leadership amidst a worsening governance crisis” in the country’s economic hub.
This put the ANC in an awkward situation, prompting them to look for alternatives for a ‘stable government’ with local government elections just over two years away after they dropped over 17 percentage points in the recent national elections.
The ANC, which holds the most amount of seats in the city’s council, is itching to get its way back into the helm of the city’s government – and is looking for those who could back them for this, given that many in their current GLU refuse to be under an ANC mayor (particularly the EFF).
This is likely to result in the nomination of the ANC in Johannesburg’s caucus leader and current MMC for Finance, Dada Morero, for mayor.
ActionSA, which said that it will remain an opposition party, emphasised that “our support is conditioned on the removal of the current mayor, Kabelo Gwamanda… who has let down the residents of the city most profoundly.”
“We need to put behind us the Gwamanda era and move on, cause quite frankly, very little can be as bad as the Gwamanda era has been,” said Beaumont.
ActionSA previously made it explicit that it would never corroborate with the ANC, but it has since changed its tune.
Mashaba said that the party “can no longer position ourselves in the complex future of coalitions by ruling out even the most base level arrangements of working with other political parties in such a manner that votes for ActionSA fulfil their mandate.”
“If we don’t want to be dinosaurs, we, too, have to adapt to the changes to our political environment,” said Beaumont.
Ekurhuleni and Tshwane
The metros of Ekurhuleni and Tshwane are also governed by coalition agreements.
Ekurhuleni is currently governed by a similar arrangement in Johannesburg, which has also proven contentious.
Recently, the African Independent Congress’ Sivuyile Ngodwana was removed as mayor of the city’s GLU and replaced by the ANC’s Nkosindiphile Xhakaza.
In the build-up to this decision, the co-governing partners, the ANC and EFF, were involved in a physical altercation in the council over this.
Ruffling some feathers, Xhakaza recently axed the EFF’s Gauteng chairperson Nkululeko Dunga from his position as MMC of Finance in the city, which exacerbated cracks in the co-governing arrangement between the ANC and EFF.
ActionSA said that following the “stabilisation of Johannesburg,” it “will continue to engage around the future of Ekurhuleni to ensure that this City is similarly stabilised in the near future.”
Looking at Tshwane, on 19 July, the ANC announced it would submit a motion of no confidence against DA mayor Cilliers Brink and his executive, which includes that of ActionSA.
However, with the coalition of the DA, ActionSA, FF Plus, and other parties holding a majority, it is unlikely that this will materialise.
ActionSA is additionally looking for support from the ANC to facilitate the resignation of the current African Transformation Movement Speaker in the City of Tshwane, Mncedi Ndzwanana, which they accuse of being behind the “destabilisation.”