Cope willing to enter coalitions with any party

Congress of the People (Cope) Gauteng chair Tom Mofokeng says the party is willing to work with everyone in municipalities, including the ANC, which they have accused of corruption.

Mofokeng was speaking to The Citizen yesterday at Tshwane House where their one council representative was chosen as a candidate for the mayorship position by the ANC-EFF-led coalition.

This was after the coalition dumped their candidate, Molwantwa Tshabadi of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), at the 11th hour in favour of Cope’s Ofentse Moalusi.

Moalusi was only sworn in as municipalities a councillor yesterday to replace Cope councillor Justice Sefanyetso after it was claimed he allegedly had two identity documents and a criminal record, which has been denied.

READ MORE: Cope mayor rejects DA’s rebuff, pledges to save Tshwane from financial ruin

Corruption

Mofokeng said they only brought Moalusi to the Tshwane council as a representative but they appreciated the councillors who saw a leader in him and nominated him as a mayoral candidate.

“We know that he will not be corruptible, we know that he is a hard worker, he has shown that in both business and private industries,” said Mofokeng.

“We also know that he is taking instructions from the party and he will do exactly what the party wants him to do.”

Cope appears to be willing to work with the ANC, despite the party being formed by former ANC leaders like party president Mosiuoa Lekota and his deputy Willie Madisha, who left the ANC accusing it of being corrupt.

Mofokeng said Cope worked with everybody and they looked at what the party would benefit from the coalition.

“In the Western Cape, the DA succeeded because of the support they got from Cope in about 11 municipalities. We moved from there and we came to work with them here in Gauteng,” he said.

“As Cope, we look at different things before we commit ourselves to who our partners should be. We look at whether we have things that are common to run ANC regional chair George Matjila said they looked at Moalusi’s skills and capabilities when they chose him to be their mayoral candidate.

“He has got two master’s [degrees], he is highly educated and a person we think can assist us in terms of ensuring that he turns things around in the municipality,” he said.

Matjila said they were confident their coalition would scoop the mayorship position. “We are confident as before, remember nobody gave us a chance of scooping the first one where Dr Marunwa Makwarela was elected as the mayor, even when we put in the speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana, nobody believed,” he said.

NOW READ: ANC-EFF to back Cope councillor for Tshwane mayor