- The ANC and EFF "partnership" that muscled the DA out of the council speaker and whip positions is now gunning for the metro mayorship.
- The EFF, in particular, is confident that amendments to the standing order allowing for the tabling of similar motions more regularly leaves Mayor Tania Campbell with no place to hide.
- Despite its "partnership" with the ANC, the EFF is adamant that they are not in coalition with the party.
Having wrestled away the positions of Ekhuruleni council speaker and chief whip from the DA on Tuesday, the ANC and EFF "partnership" is now gunning to remove Tania Campbell as mayor.
"We can safely say at this point that the mayor will vacate her office. The Ekurhuleni mayor is as good as gone," Gauteng EFF chairperson Nkululeko Dunga told News24.
This comes after the EFF, the ANC, and other smaller parties came together to vote for councillors Nthabiseng Tshivenga from the EFF as speaker and Jongizizwe Dlabathi from the ANC as chief whip of the council.
The DA's Raymond Dhlamini was removed as a speaker on 24 February, and the party's Khetha Shandu resigned as chief whip on 2 February.
Council also passed an amendment to the standing order, which previously limited the number of motions - including no-confidence motions - from only being heard every six months, to now being tabled as and when they are deemed necessary.
On Tuesday, 123 councillors voted in favour of the amendment, while 77 voted against it.
This paves the way for the EFF and ANC-led "partnership" to table a motion of no confidence in Campbell.
Before the amendment, the opposition parties would have had to wait until May to remove the mayor. A motion was passed in October, but she was later re-elected.
Dunga explained that the amendments to the standing order were not targeted at pushing Campbell out, but rather to enable the tabling of similar motions when there was a need.
He said:
Dunga also reiterated that the EFF was not in a coalition with the ANC and other smaller parties, but was dutybound to participate "in a partnership" for the good of its constituency.
'We make no apologies for our stance'
"We are in no coalition with any party, but we are just participating in governance. The EFF represents 13.5% of the electorate of Ekurhuleni and 13% of the entire Gauteng, so any composition of government may be constituted through the coming together of numerous minority parties... to make 50% plus.
"We are also very clear that the DA must leave because they have failed to direct services, particularly to the constituency of the EFF, which are in the townships, so we make no apologies for our stance of participating in governance," he said.
The ANC caucus in Ekurhuleni has also welcomed the election of both the speaker and chief whip of the council during the extraordinary council meeting on Tuesday.
"The ANC caucus wishes to thank all the like-minded political parties for their commitment of wanting to bring stability in the municipal governance," the party said in a statement.
The party added that it "strongly believes that the election of a progressive speaker and whip of the council would bring normality in the work of council and legislature".
"As we congratulate a newly elected speaker of council, we equally expect a council speaker who will preside in a non-partisan manner, but with integrity and honour, using prescripts of the Standing Orders as guidelines to be followed in the smooth running of the council work."
An ANC insider told News24 that the motion of no confidence in Campbell could be tabled as soon as this week, as the party was confident she would be removed.
The City of Ekurhuleni has narrowly escaped being placed under administration. Council has finally approved the long-awaited adjustment budget, which will enable the municipality to deliver services.