ANC in Tshwane looks to unseat DA-led multi-party coalition government

The African National Congress (ANC) in Tshwane says it is engaging all parties in the council in a bid to unseat the Democratic Alliance (DA)-led multi-party coalition government.

The party says the coalition government has failed to deliver services to the people of Tshwane and has plunged the metro into financial disarray.

Briefing the media in Pretoria on Monday, the ANC’s Tshwane’s leadership says it will continue to canvass for a change of government.

The ANC is still working to regain the capital after it lost power in the 2016 local government elections. The party which recently reclaimed the City of Johannesburg through a coalition agreement is confident it will be back in charge in the Tshwane Metro soon.

It says the recent financial distress facing the city is proof enough that the DA-led coalition has failed. It says this includes the late payment of salaries, the recalling of the municipal fleet, fuel shortages for bus services and the ongoing Eskom debt.

ANC Regional secretary, George Matjila says, “We are trying to push the DA-led coalition into a corner with a view that all and sundry will see the failures of the DA. Ours is to put the interest of our people more than any other thing. At the same time, we are engaging with all parties in the council. Our thinking Is that we all represent the interest of the people. Our responsibility as the official opposition party in the council is to highlight those but at the same time engage parties that are there with the view to have an alternative government that will be able to serve the people.”

Other parties in coalition

Action SA has resolved to review its approach to coalitions due to growing concern about stability. So the ANC will have to partner with the EFF and smaller parties to regain the metro.

The FFPlus, COPE and ACDP have however maintained their commitment to the DA coalition. The ANC’s Caucus leader Frans Boshielo, says they are being proactive in the meantime.

“We are trying to make sure that we are using all the available committees to be effective, to hold the current DA coalition accountable,” adds Boshelo.

The ANC also says the current coalition is not principled and blames this on the sharing of power and positions.

Analyst Dr John Molepo says with the smaller parties sticking to their DA allegiance, the ANC may have to do more to win back Tshwane.

“With Tshwane, the ANC will have to work very hard with the other opposition parties because we have seen now that Action SA has pulled out from this arrangement. So it will simply mean that the ANC will need the support from these parties to gain that particular coalition,” says Dr Molepo.

Meanwhile, the DA’s Peter Sutton, who serves as Finance MMC, says while the metro’s liquidity challenges are far from over, their interventions on Eskom and revenue collection are beginning to work.

“We’ve put interventions in place and we can see those interventions paying off and starting to show off the fruits and results that we need,” adds Sutton.

The ANC says while it believes that the current state of the capital is sufficient grounds for it to be placed under administration, it believes some alternatives need to be exhausted first.