The ANC and the EFF are on the cusp of a massive fallout that could create instability in several municipalities and possibly collapse the Gauteng provincial government.
The two parties are not finding each other on the sharing of the spoils in the City of Ekurhuleni after ANC national leaders gave executive mayor Doctor Xhakaza the green light to reshuffle his mayoral committee.
The EFF wanted the speaker position, which it previously held, but on Monday, the first cracks of the fraught relationship showed when the ANC put up a candidate for the position and won, annihilating the DA’s Lucky Dinake and the EFF’s Nkululeko Dunga.
Highly placed sources told Sunday World that the EFF has demanded that the newly elected ANC’s council speaker step down and that they retain their four Mayco positions.
Failure to do this, the EFF has threatened, will lead to the red berets brigade pulling out of all working relationships across the country.
“There have been negotiations with the EFF. They had four people in Mayco and the speaker, so the ANC argued with other parties that those numbers were too high, so let them settle for two, which is what they are entitled to. The EFF rejected that, and that is it,” said ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula.
“They said they will withdraw from any coalition they have with the ANC everywhere if we go ahead in Ekurhuleni. If the reshuffling happens, they will be left with two, and then we will see. We agreed as the ANC national officials that the Ekurhuleni regional leadership can go ahead and negotiate, and they have come back saying the negotiations are tough; those fellows are making unreasonable demands.”
The ANC provincial task team (PTT) has also discussed the matter in detail after being briefed by Xhakaza on why he needed to rejig his government in Ekurhuleni. According to our insiders, Xhakaza had complained about how impossible it had become to work with the EFF, which he accused of bullying and making his job unbearable.
The PTT also gave him its blessings to go ahead and negotiate with coalition partners about the type of government he envisages.
At its meeting on Monday, the PTT discussed the Ekurhuleni matter in detail. “The PTT got to hear how the EFF in Ekurhuleni is undermining our mayor, Doctor Xhakaza, every day but still has the audacity to make unreasonable demands. Everyone agrees that something must be done,” said a PTT leader.
“Doctor (Xhakaza) was adamant that it was becoming impossible to work with the EFF that undermines him at every turn, so the question was, should we cut our losses given their demands? And that is what was agreed on.”
If the ANC, as it appears both at national and provincial levels, insists on digging in its heels, the threat of instability is not only limited to municipalities but extends to the Gauteng provincial government, which the ANC is co-governing with the EFF and the MKP.
With its adopted posture, if the EFF does not get what its wants in Ekurhuleni, the days of Premier Panyaza Lesufi in office could be numbered.
The DA already tried last year to move a motion of no-confidence against Lesufi, but the MKP, the EFF and small parties, such as ActionSA and IFP, put their foot down and defended the ANC deployee.
The EFF Plenum, the annual planning meeting held to decide how to approach the party’s participation in government, which is ending today, was set to discuss this issue, among others.
Opening the EFF Plenum on Friday, party leader Julius Malema hit back at the ANC, saying: “They think they can treat the EFF like dirt and do as they please with us, especially in Ekurhuleni, and very soon they will reap the consequences of their disrespect and disregard for the EFF.”
