The City of Johannesburg council is expected to elect a new mayor on Friday after Thapelo Amad resigned last week.
On Tuesday, a council meeting ended in an impasse after parties failed to agree on which candidates to field for election.
The delays were reportedly caused by deliberations about which party between the ANC-EFF coalition and minority parties’ alliance would field a mayoral candidate.
Sunday World understands that the Patriotic Alliance proposed Kenny Kunene as a candidate, but the DA rejected him.
The ANC caucus is expected to support Kabelo Gwamanda, a member of Al Jama-Ah, as the new mayor, while the DA is backing Mpho Phalatse, whom the party believes was doing a good job before she was removed from office through a motion of no confidence in January.
ActionSA has claimed that the DA reneged on its initial agreement to support Funzi Ngobeni as the mayoral candidate and instead chose to nominate Phalatse.
Michael Beaumont, the party’s national chairperson, said the DA’s refusal to meet and its 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.
“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.”
Also read: Political squabbles delay election of new Joburg mayor
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