The newly found working relationship between the ANC in Gauteng and Julius Malema’s red berets is not sitting well with members of the governing party in the province.
In a letter addressed to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday, the ANC branch leaders in Ekurhuleni’s ward 16 warn that the ruling party will regret associating itself with the EFF.
The authors, branch secretary Jabu Mbongwa and branch chairperson Andrew Baloyi, complain that the “renewed desperation to recapture power in the aforementioned municipalities” goes against Ramaphosa’s wisdom when he said in 2022, after the municipal elections, that “we are not desperate for power, and the ANC should not be bullied by minority parties”.
Since Panyaza Lesufi rose to power as the ANC provincial chairperson and Gauteng premier late in 2022, his coalition with the EFF has seen the DA losing power in Tshwane and in Johannesburg.
As a result of the collaboration, on Wednesday Dr Murunwa Makwarela of Cope was elected as the new mayor of Tshwane.
In February, Thapelo Amad, a member of a Muslim minority political party with just three seats, Al-Jama-ah’s, became Johannesburg’s new mayor.
In Johannesburg, both the ANC and EFF settled for mayoral committee seats in exchange for their votes, and the same is likely to happen in Tshwane.
Lesego Makhubela, ANC provincial spokesperson, told Sunday World on Thursday that there is no relationship between the EFF and the ANC, and noted that both parties only work together to dismantle a coalition led by the DA.
“We have not received any letter from any of our branches, approving or disapproving of our relationship with all parties that are represented in all councils of Gauteng. We have no agreement with the EFF or any other party in all those councils,” said Makhubela.
“We will work with any party that believes in ending the reign of the inept DA-led coalitions to save all our cities from maladministration and completely collapsing.”
The two parties worked together against the DA in Ekurhuleni in 2022 when city mayor Tania Campbell squared off with ANC’s Mzwandile Masina and EFF’s Nkululeko Dunga for the mayoral chain.
It was reported at the time that the ANC agreed with the EFF to remove the DA from power. The EFF would take over Tshwane in exchange for their votes for an ANC mayor in Johannesburg.
Later, Mpho Phalatse, who was the mayor of Johannesburg, dragged the mayoral battle to the high court after she was illegally ousted through a motion of no confidence.
The court ruled that the council sitting, which facilitated her removal, was unlawful and that the ANC’s Dada Morero, who had already assumed office, be removed.
When it became clear that the agreement bore no fruit, because the DA and its coalition partners held a majority in Gauteng metros, the two parties agreed to cease power, but not to allow the DA to gain power.
They arranged to work together to vote in favour of minority parties within the DA-led coalitions.
In the letter to Ramaphosa, Mbongwa said “whilst there is a broad recognition that coalition alliances and regimes are not new nor unique to the ANC, the party’s ward 16 is concerned about a lack of ANC traditions, strategy and tactics, and scientific approach to managing this political task”.
“We are of the view that coalition alliances should not be viewed narrowly as brokering political power without a political strategy and without thorough analysis and identified political consequences.
“It is this analysis that should assist the movement to develop a coalition strategy and tactics [so that] the movement can be positioned to understand the provincial and national balance of forces.”
Mbongwa continued: “We are of the view that the deployed narrow approach is limited to only seizing power at all costs and lacks science. It is narrowly structured as ‘dealings’ and lacks revolutionary integrity, which could have dire political consequences.”
He said the ANC in Gauteng “may be testing poison with a tongue, especially given the history of their coalition of choice, the EFF”, and added that Malema is a “terrorist” who has a “desperate objective to destroy the ANC and remove it from power”.
Mbongwa said the EFF’s planned protest action on March 20 to remove Ramaphosa as the country’s president is one example that it cannot be trusted as an ally.
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