Johannesburg – The ANC has lost the third metropolitan municipality in Gauteng, the country’s economic heartland.
This is after the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Randall Williams was elected unopposed.
The ruling party, in the country’s capital city, failed to field a candidate to contest Williams.
The organization has been plagued by factional fights in the region, flowing from hostilities in the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC).
The PEC recently omitted the name of the regional chairperson, Kgosi Maepa, from a list of three mayoral candidates submitted to the ANC national executive committee.
Tshwane was won, thanks to votes from small parties including EFF and ActionSA.
Meanwhile, the new Speaker of the Tshwane Council is Katlego Mathebe. She was nominated by the DA and was uncontested.
Earlier today, DA leader John Steenhuisen has warned that the support that the party’s mayoral candidates received in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni from the EFF and ActionSA comes with no strings attached.
Steenhuisen said his party did not make concessions to the EFF and ActionSA and would not do so, despite the two organizations having voted DA mayors in both metros.
Speaking just hours after the party’s Dr. Mpho Phalatse and Tania Campbell were voted Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni mayors respectively, Steenhuisen said he would not allow the red berets and Mashaba’s party to hold a gun to their head in the governments.
“Yesterday’s developments in the votes for mayor and speaker in both Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni Metros came as a surprise to everyone, including us at the DA. We didn’t ask for help from the EFF to lead these governments, and we did not expect to leave these meetings with two new DA mayors, and both these metros’ first-ever female mayors,” he said.
The unseating of the ANC in Tshwane and Johannesburg came at an opportune time, three years before the national elections in 2024, Steenhuisen noted.
The first council meeting to elect speaker and mayor of eThekwini collapsed on Monday after ANC supporters stormed the gathering.
This was after it became apparent that the IFP and other small parties were going to vote a DA candidate to become mayor. The meeting is scheduled to resume tomorrow.
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