ANC and EFF delays talks on the new Ekurhuleni

The council meeting to choose a new mayor for Ekurhuleni was postponed on Wednesday afternoon due to stalled negotiations between the ANC and the EFF.

After the dismissal of the DA’s Tania Campbell last week, the conference adjourned without electing a mayor.
ANC and EFF national and provincial leaders were meeting behind closed doors as the council met to work out the specifics of how council members from both parties will vote to elect a new mayor.

According to TimesLIVE, party officials from both sides had initially agreed to choose Nkululeko Dunga of the EFF as part of a deal that would have seen the red berets co-rule with the ANC.

The ANC Ekurhuleni regional chair Mzwandile Masina’s resignation from the mayoral contest served as confirmation of this.

Masina announced to TimesLIVE that he was withdrawing from the contest and that he had served his time as mayor while negotiations were still going on outside the council meeting.

“Unfortunately, I have already completed my five-year tenure. It’s time to concentrate on other issues in the movement because my bid for a second term was unsuccessful, Masina stated.

The deal had stated that the ANC would receive the speakership, council whip, and the majority of the MMC positions, while the EFF, which has 31 seats in the metro, would receive the mayorship and at least three MMC positions.

But according to TimesLIVE, after lunch, the conference had taken an odd turn when the EFF broke their word and informed the ANC that they did not want to co-govern.

According to reports, the EFF, backed by deputy president Floyd Shivambu, told ANC provincial leaders Panyaza Lesufi, chair and premier, and TK Nciza that they intended to run the metropolis on their own.
In exchange, the EFF would see to it that the ANC was put in power in Johannesburg while more talks took place in Tshwane.

The EFF had presented the DA with a similar suggestion following the local government elections of the previous year. In exchange for DA support to lead Tshwane, the EFF had at the time promised to back the DA’s mayors in both Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.

The DA disapproved of this. The ANC at the time was unable to accept the same plan because it had been violently rejected by its national executive committee. Instead, the EFF decided to join the DA in voting despite their rejection of their idea.

When the ANC rejected the EFF’s proposal, the meeting on Wednesday came to a standstill. Both sides agreed that the council meeting should be postponed to give them time to resolve their differences.

Within seven days, according to Speaker Raymond Dhlamini, a new council meeting would be called to pick a mayor.

The DA-led alliance has 93 councillors in the city, compared to more than 130 votes for the ANC-EFF bloc, which also enjoys the support of seven smaller parties.

If the two sides are unable to come to terms in Ekurhuleni, the effects may spread to Johannesburg, where the ANC plans to reinstall Dada Morero as mayor with the aid of the EFF.

 

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