The coalition in the City of Ekurhuleni is falling apart months before the local government elections.
EFF Gauteng chairperson Nkululeko Dunga says the party has pulled out of its coalition arrangement with the ANC in the City of Ekurhuleni.
The announcement comes after a mayoral committee reshuffle by mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza on Tuesday.
Dunga said the EFF is unhappy with the changes that have been made. He also said the EFF was not consulted.
“Effectively, in this newly configured mayoral committee, the EFF is expected to remain with only two portfolios, and with a seriously eroded mandate.
“This is despite the fact that our MMCs [members of the mayoral committee] have consistently ranked among the highest performers in the mayoral committee in terms of service delivery.
“The ANC and mayor Xhakaza are hellbent on demonstrating that selfish political manoeuvring and internal factional battles are more important to them than the interests of the people of Ekurhuleni,” he said.
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EFF pulls out
Dunga said the EFF rejects the new positions that they have been offered and will now take the opposition benches in the council.
“The EFF therefore informs the people of Ekurhuleni and Gauteng that we have declined the offer to continue forming part of the mayoral committee in the City of Ekurhuleni.
“We will instead take up our role in the opposition benches with discipline and determination, continuing to hold the executive accountable.
“We commend our former MMCs for the outstanding work they have done in serving the people of Ekurhuleni with integrity and dedication,” he said.
Historic tensions at boiling point
The relationship between the ANC leadership and the EFF in Ekurhuleni has been strained for sometime with EFF leader Julius Malema constantly criticising the ANC in this municipality.
The EFF believes that the ANC unfairly removed Dunga as the MMC for Finance in 2024. They believe they have helped turn around the municipality’s finances.
“It is also important to contextualise this behaviour within the contents of the letter written by ANC structure in Ekurhuleni to the ANC secretary-general, where they explicitly stated that the continued presence of EFF MMCs, their work ethic, and their quality of performance posed a threat to the ANC’s support base in Ekurhuleni and had to be neutralised with urgency.
“This confirms that the systematic removal of the EFF from government in the City of Ekurhuleni is not based on performance failures, but precisely on our effective performance, which the ANC perceives as a political threat,” said Dunga.
It is still unclear how tensions in Ekurhuleni will affect the ANC’s relationship with the EFF in the province, especially since Premier Panyaza Lesufi is running a minority government and needs the EFF’s support to pass reports and other council items.
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