GAUTENG - Cracks are looming in the three DA-led coalition government’s in Metro Councils of Tshwane, Joburg and Ekurhuleni as other partners lodged an outright squabble with ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba.
The latest conflict stems from Mashaba’s call to his coalition partners to consider working with the EFF in Ekurhuleni if they want to pass the Metro budget in May.
Mashaba and his party were of the view that the parties would be able to meet the 50 + 1 percentage vote to allow it to pass the budget. However, it emerged that without the EFF, that would be impossible.
According to ActionSA, they made their coalition partners aware of the dilemma, but they appear to lack interest in roping in the red beret party in Gauteng.
Reacting to Mashaba and ActionSA, coalition partners the DA, ACDP, FF+ and Cope issued a joint statement saying that Mashaba made those remarks without consulting the Coalition Oversight Group to resolve issues of disputes among them.
“The multi-party coalition negotiation team expresses its profound concern at ActionSA’s unilateral media conference yesterday, approached ActionSA to facilitate the EFF’s entry into our coalition governments.
“The DA merely asked ActionSA, given their good relations with the EFF, to establish how the EFF intended voting in the election of Committee chairpersons in Johannesburg. It was stated clearly then and has been repeated several times that this did not imply that the coalition was prepared to bring the EFF into our governing arrangements in any way whatsoever."
“In its attempt to bring the EFF into the governments of Johannesburg and Tshwane, ActionSA argued that this was the way to stabilise our minority government in Ekurhuleni.
“The coalition does not regard this as a valid reason to compromise on bringing the EFF into government, and has resolved so repeatedly. The coalition governments in Tshwane and Johannesburg are stable. In Ekurhuleni, the coalition partners have put in place mechanisms to ensure as much stability as possible,” the coalition partners said.
They further highlighted that they were committed to serving the residents of these metro municipalities.
“We recognise that there are different coalition configurations in other provinces involving a range of parties, including the EFF. We also understand that there are different dynamics in different provinces, and we respect their right to function in terms of their own arrangements, and we require the same respect to be accorded to the Gauteng coalitions.
“The coalition calls on ActionSA to abide by the decisions of the Coalition Oversight group and the other parties in the coalition, and help us get down to the business of delivering services in Gauteng municipalities,” added the parties.
Political Bureau