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This Thursday, 11 April 2024 at 10:00, Ekurhuleni’s Council will once again attempt to meet and elect a new Executive Mayor after ActionSA successfully tabled a Motion of No Confidence in the EFF Puppet Mayor, Sivuyile Ngodwana.

The meeting follows an attempt by the delinquent EFF Speaker of Ekurhuleni Council, Cllr Nthabiseng Tshivhenga, who erroneously sent out a notice that the extraordinary council meeting, scheduled for 04 April 2024, was postponed due to “unforeseen circumstances”.

The call for this meeting, follows the intervention by the MEC for COGCTA in Gauteng, after ActionSA and other parties in Council raised concerns through the multiparty forum, where the Speaker was found to be in contravention of council rules, the Systems Act, and Structures Act, notwithstanding the resolutions of Council to elect an Executive Mayor within 7 days. 

With only 15 seats in a council of 224 seats, ActionSA represents 6% in Council, and after consulting with various political parties in Council, it is becoming increasingly clear that a candidate nominated by ActionSA will not receive enough votes to win the Mayorship and form a coalition.

The crisis of leadership that faces the residents of Ekurhuleni is entirely a product of the leadership failures of the ANC and the DA who collectively account for a majority of the Council, and yet neither will provide the leadership to govern the municipality. This failure is most notable from the DA who abstained in the motion of no confidence to remove the Mayor, while its former coalition partners in ActionSA, IFP, ACDP and FF Plus remained unified in their votes to remove the Mayor. 

The refusal of the DA to provide leadership, has resulted in ActionSA requesting the support of the DA for an ActionSA candidate. The DA with their 65 seats has declined to support an ActionSA candidate. It is becoming increasingly clear that the DA’s stance means that there is no clear path for any alternative to the ANC and EFF to emerge in Ekurhuleni. 

Consequently, ActionSA will be unable to garner enough support to create a government with enough council support as this will be needed to pass budgets and begin the arduous process of taking on the Cadres in the system, stabilising the City’s finances, retaking hijacked buildings and rolling out a comprehensive insourcing plan.

This will be no different from the now removed ANC-EFF coalition, where a minority party with just 3 seats, through Cllr Ngodwana was only ever a Puppet Mayor unable to initiate any real governance programs. With only 15 seats in Ekurhuleni, ActionSA has taken on the role of the official opposition where there is a clear lack of political will to hold the executive to account, a position that ActionSA is proud to hold for the duration of its term in office.

During Ngodwana’s brief term, ActionSA exposed the EFF MMC for Finance, Cllr Dunga’s dodgy blue-light crash as well as fought vigorously against the R2 Billion security tender which killed insourcing in Ekurhuleni. ActionSA also revealed that the City’s finances were on the brink of collapse and that urgent measures needed to be taken to keep the city from being placed under administration. 

To this end, ActionSA will not be fielding a candidate on Thursday but will rather continue to hold the impending government to account and will insist that the incoming Mayor must be competent enough to stabilise the finances of the City, implement the institutional review, and ensure that quality services are delivered to our residents.  

ActionSA also notes the support of the FF-Plus, ACDP, IFP, the PA and minority parties in Council, who have pledged their willingness to unite behind a candidate notwithstanding the continued failure of the DA to take any measure to keep Ekurhuleni out of the ANC and EFF hands. 

Issued by Siyanda Makhubo