The DA has reiterated its stance on not working with the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal local municipalities as the fallout from the removal of Cilliers Brink as the mayor of Tshwane spreads to the province.
That is one of the decisions taken by the party’s KZN provincial council while taking stock of the current environment and developments across the province and in municipalities.
Despite working together at national and provincial levels, DA KZN leader Francois Rodgers said the party was not willing to extend the relationship with the ANC to local government level until it reinstates Brink in Tshwane.
“The provincial council reaffirmed the party’s position that it is unavailable to assist the ANC in local government in KZN until the ousting of Cilliers Brink is rectified. The DA cannot be asked to support ANC local governments while the same ANC brings down DA-led governments in other provinces,” he said on Tuesday.
Brink’s 18-month stint as mayor of the capital city ended on September 26 through a motion of no confidence that was sponsored by the ANC, who voted with the EFF and ActionSA. The DA had failed to convince the ANC to drop the motion it had filed in July, despite both parties being members of the government of national unity.
ActionSA’s Dr Nasiphi Moya was elected the new mayor in early October, further highlighting the relationship between her party and the ANC in that city.
Rodgers said: “It was further reinforced that the DA cannot, and will not work in a government that includes the EFF, which is not a member of the GPU or GNU, as is the case in eThekwini.”
In eThekwini, the ANC recently supported the reinstatement of the EFF’s Bhekithemba Mvubu as chairperson of the Human Settlements and Transport Authority.
Moreover, the tensions between the two parties heightened in eThekwini municipality when DA chief whip and exco member Yogis Govender was racially abused during a council meeting.
Govender had finished her debate over a monument honouring the arrival of indentured Indians in South Africa in November 1860 when an unidentified councillor shouted, “Go back to Bombay!”
ActionSA councillor Zwakele Mncwango alleged the unidentified councillor had come from the ANC bench, but speaker Thabani Nyawose initially refused to rule that the matter would be investigated to find the perpetrator, choosing to only condemn it.
Though the city communicated that Nyawose had agreed to conduct the investigation the next day, Rodgers confirmed that the party would bring a motion of no confidence against the eThekwini speaker, a member of the ANC, for “failing to protect” Govender.
Meanwhile, the DA further condemned the “attack” directed at them, and GPU partners the IFP, by ANC KZN in a press conference last week.
ANC provincial chairperson Siboniso Duma expressed displeasure at the DA for opposing the motion of no confidence the ANC had sponsored against its own member Lindile Nhaca as the mayor of KwaDukuza on the north coast.
Duma remarked: “Where necessary, we will characterise the DA and all those forces that do not share a common programme with the ANC. The DA will always be a centre-right party that has the capacity to hamper the progress towards the fulfilment of the Freedom Charter.”
Rodgers said the utterances from that briefing were “highly regrettable” and did not instil confidence in the GPU.
“The DA is of the view that differences between the parties on issues of real substance should be dealt with between leaders. The council therefore welcomed the meeting held by political parties in the GPU on Sunday.”
He also noted that political instability was affecting service delivery in the eThekwini, Umsunduzi and KwaDukuza municipalities.
He was particularly concerned about the financial performances of these municipalities as well as water and sanitation issues in eThekwini which persist ahead of the holiday season.
Rodgers, however, expressed his approval at the progress they had shown in uMngeni local municipality under mayor Chris Pappas and acknowledged the efforts of Christo Botha as the deputy mayor of uMhlathuze municipality.
In assessing its performance in government since joining the GPU, the party said it was happy with the work of its representatives in the provincial legislature and in the two departments that they are leading — Rodgers in finance and Martin Meyer in public works and infrastructure. It was also pleased with the work of its chairpersons in Cogta, Scopa and health.
“It has also been noted that the success of the DA in the GPU has paid off handsomely in by-elections recently which saw us win all five wards we contested, including increasing our majority in all of them,” added Rodgers.
He said the party is already starting its preparations for the 2026 local government elections which will “begin in earnest” with a strategic workshop in early 2025.
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