ActionSA has blamed the ANC and EFF for delays in the election of new City of Johannesburg mayor.
On Tuesday, the council convened for a special meeting to elect a new mayor after Thapelo Amad resigned last week. However, but the meeting was adjourned due to endless caucus breaks requested by councillors from different political parties.
The delays were reportedly due to deliberations about which party from the ANC-EFF coalition and minority parties’ alliance would field a mayoral candidate.
Expressing his frustration in a statement after the meeting, ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said the ANC-EFF coalition’s “theatrics” prevented the city from electing a new mayor and, therefore, hindering service delivery.
“ActionSA is extremely angry by the ANC-EFF coalition’s theatrics in the City of Johannesburg council which has again left the city without a mayor to the detriment of service delivery to the city’s more than 4-million residents,” said Beaumont.
“After the ANC-EFF coalition called a council meeting to elect a mayor, it was they who perpetually delayed council proceedings for caucus meetings and once again proves that they are wholly unable to provide the necessary leadership to restore good governance.”
Beaumont added that without leadership in the city, there is no one to ensure oversight and accountability on city officials, and the only victims of the ANC-EFF’s delay tactics are the people of Johannesburg.
“The only victims of the ANC-EFF day-long delay tactics are the people of Johannesburg, and ActionSA stands ready to restore good governance and service delivery to all residents.
“It is clear that the ANC-EFF is concerned about their majority in council and therefore delayed council proceedings costing the city close to R800 000, which could’ve been spent on service delivery,” he said.
While the ANC and EFF mull over their preferred candidates, the DA had already fielded erstwhile mayor Mpho Phalatse for another term, after she was ousted through a motion of no confidence in January, making way for Amad’s ascension.
According to Beaumont, the DA selected Phalatse for another term despite its initial agreement to support ActionSA’s Funzi Ngobeni.
He said the DA’s refusal to meet and is unilateral nomination of Phalatse only increased the likelihood of an ANC-EFF government in Johannesburg, which goes against the purpose of the moonshot pact to prevent it.
“[On Monday], ActionSA wrote to the DA on behalf of this collective of parties and requested an urgent engagement to seek the DA’s support for Ngobeni’s candidature for the mayoralty in Johannesburg,” Beaumont said.
“The case was made for the fact that Ngobeni could achieve a majority in council with the support of the DA, something that Phalatse cannot achieve [even with our collective support] because of the breakdown of relationships between the DA and other parties in council.”
“The DA refused the opportunity to meet responding only to persist in their unilateral nomination of Phalatse despite this only increasing the likelihood of an ANC and EFF government in Johannesburg.”
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