Tension is mounting in Ekurhuleni metro, where the ANC’s longstanding dispute with the EFF is threatening the ANC’s monopoly over municipalities in Gauteng.
The Sunday Times understands that the latest storm is brewing over the mooted reconfiguration of the municipality’s government, in terms of which Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza plans to oust EFF members from his mayoral committee (Mayco).
“We have decided we want to completely remove them or cut them down to size,” said a source close to the matter.
The source added that there was a strong push for the Ekurhuleni ANC to get rid of the EFF in its executive, as the relationship between the two parties had deteriorated beyond repair.
The ANC and the EFF hold an almost equal number of seats on the Mayco, headed by Xhakaza.
However, the ANC’s provincial leadership wants Xhakaza to hold off from sacking the EFF members of the municipal council, fearing the move may negatively affect the ANC in Tshwane and Johannesburg, where it co-governs with the EFF, among other parties.
Sources say Xhakaza’s move may even affect Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi’s minority provincial government, as it is propped up by the MK Party and the EFF, as well as other parties.
A highly placed source said the Ekurhuleni ANC had long expressed its dissatisfaction over the working relationship imposed on it as part of the Gauteng ANC-EFF arrangement across the province. The region had become so impatient about its requests for an audience with ANC leadership on the matter being ignored that it wrote to the provincial task team about the issue in December. However, this move did not bear any fruit.
Everyone wants a bit of change now. In Johannesburg, they want Dada [Morero] out and Loyiso [Masuku] in, for example. So while they might want the EFF around, the change conversation is urgent
— Regional insider
In a confidential letter seen by the Sunday Times, the Ekurhuleni ANC wrote to the party’s Luthuli House headquarters on Thursday, after the task team running the party in Gauteng ignored its letter sent last month.
In the letter, the region seeks “escalation regarding the collaboration government in the City of Ekurhuleni” and also asks ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula to intervene “to facilitate an engagement that must assist in resolving the outstanding matter that relates to the strengthening of the collaboration government in the City of Ekurhuleni”.
The region adds that discussions on the issue “with the provincial leadership have not yielded a positive outcome”.
The Sunday Times understands a provincial working committee meeting sat on Thursday night, where this issue ranked high on the agenda. There was a commitment to meet Mbalula on Friday, and the provincial task team is expected to meet on Sunday to further deliberate on the matter.
“It’s going to be a heated meeting. Those who are pro-EFF in the province will have mobilised their people, because they are benefiting [from] the EFF arrangement. Then Ekurhuleni will come bidding for their removal,” said a regional insider.
The source added that all Gauteng ANC structures have just come out of regional elective conferences, and fresh voices will be seeking to make statements.
“Everyone wants a bit of change now. In Johannesburg, they want Dada [Morero] out and Loyiso [Masuku] in, for example. So while they might want the EFF around, the change conversation is urgent.
“In proper politics, there is no strategic value in keeping the EFF around. Besides [the fact that we are] fishing from the same pond of voters, in Ekurhuleni we are troubled by the EFF. In Tshwane, the EFF is backing the ANC, but it is not [we] who are benefiting — it is ActionSA and Nasiphi Moya who [are] gaining mileage.”
Recently, Ekurhuleni council speaker Nthabiseng Tshivenga, from the EFF, resigned from her post. Red beret provincial chair Nkululeko Dunga, previously axed as finance MMC, is in pole position to succeed her.
The council is scheduled to finalise the vacant speaker post in the next two weeks.
The insider maintained that the move to boot the EFF out of the executive will not affect the ANC majority in the council.
“Remember, Xhakaza was voted in by [minority parties’] support as well. They have been saying we owe them. [The] Patriotic Alliance has been waiting for a position, [and] we must give [it to] them. We must also sort out ActionSA in that balance. But our numbers without the DA and [the] EFF are not compromised, [and] we will survive without them.”
“We are forced to finalise the issue of the speaker. The mayor needs to act now to correct the outcry of 2024. If he doesn’t correct it, it means the [minority parties] are going to be disgruntled and might side with Dunga. Xhakaza must act now [and] give them what they want, so that when they go to elect the speaker we are not compromised.”
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