City of Ekurhuleni executive mayor Doctor Xhakaza has broken his silence about his fallout with the EFF.
Xhakaza, during an exclusive interview with Sunday World, spoke candidly about how he reached a point of no return with the red berets brigade.
The boiling point was reached last month when Xhakaza reshuffled his mayoral committee, slashing EFF positions from four to two.
The EFF retaliated by rejecting the offer, insisting on the old arrangement of four, something that led to them landing outside the government.
During the wide-ranging interview, Xhakaza said he had never trusted the EFF from the moment he came into power in April 2024.
This is because he had observed how the ANC splinter was “running amok” under DA mayor Tanya Campbell post the 2021 local government elections.
But Xhakaza had begrudgingly decided to give them the benefit of the doubt thanks to the ANC provincial leadership that convinced him that the EFF was no danger.
However, he said he quickly learned that he had committed a blunder and moved swiftly to act when he removed EFF Gauteng provincial chairperson Nkululeko Dunga as MMC for finance three months into his tenure as mayor.
Xhakaza, who is also ANC regional chairperson in Ekurhuleni, said he picked up many wrong things that Dunga was engaged in. What worsened the situation, he charged, was that Dunga captured the then city manager, Imogen Mashazi, who is heavily implicated in the Madlanga commission.
“People must not say there is chaos in Ekurhuleni because we decided to remove and act against those standing against progress. I removed Nkululeko Dunga, who is a leader of the EFF in Gauteng, as an MMC, hardly three months into office as the mayor,” said Xhakaza.
“Everybody said do not appoint this guy because he has been at the centre of the outcry in Ekurhuleni as MMC for finance and ICT, and was running the minority government. He was in cahoots with the former city manager (Mashazi) to run the city into the ground.
“People said this guy represents some of the rot because he enabled DA mayor Tanya Campbell, and they started to run the [DA] and influence them. And the ANC said, ‘We will not be wrongly influenced,’ and they attempted.”
According to Xhakaza, the protestation for four MMC posts by the EFF all the way to the party’s head office, Winnie Mandela House, was unreasonable, and he was never going to succumb to their pressure.
In his view, EFF head Julius Malema was misled by Dunga, whom Xhakaza believes is a political novice without the requisite mastery to manoeuvre challenging political terrains such as a coalition government.
“I am very disappointed by the president of the EFF… Some of his pronouncements are ‘No, you cannot’ simply because you have several councillors.
“When we try to do corrective measures in Ekurhuleni, it’s ‘No, you cannot; it will affect you elsewhere in Gauteng.’ I had to act, and what happened? I have approved a budget adjustment. We are demonstrating to him (Malema) that he is being misled by one inexperienced and rogue so-called leader of the EFF, Nkululeko Dunga.”
Xhakaza said he was proud to have isolated the EFF and pushed them out of the Ekurhuleni government, and says any noise they make is insignificant.
That is, even if ActionSA, which he claims the EFF blackmailed to join them because they could remove their mayor in Tshwane, is still not a big deal because the two combined have 46 representatives out of the total council of 224 councillors.
“They characterise removing the EFF as instability. We must remove them because they are a rogue element. I should never have agreed to work with the EFF in the first place.
“You had an accounting officer (Mashazi) who was taking instructions from the red berets to undermine a sitting mayor. I had to remove Dunga in
July 2024.”
In this new era without the EFF in the government, Xhakaza will table his State of the City Address on Wednesday.
Dunga hit back at Xhakaza’s allegations about what he believes are the reasons for his removal as MMC.
“He wanted me to allocate money to ANC wards as part of budgets so that they can loot, which I refused,” said Dunga.
- City of Ekurhuleni executive mayor Doctor Xhakaza has broken his silence about his fallout with the EFF.
- Xhakaza, during an exclusive interview with Sunday World, spoke candidly about how he reached a point of no return with the red berets brigade.
- The boiling point was reached last month when Xhakaza reshuffled his mayoral committee, slashing EFF positions from four to two.
- The EFF retaliated by rejecting the offer, insisting on the old arrangement of four, something that led to them landing outside the government.
- During the wide-ranging interview, Xhakaza said he had never trusted the EFF from the moment he came into power in April 2024.
