DA coalition in Tshwane ‘unlikely to be toppled’, says mayor

Tshwane Mayor Randall Williams says an ANC and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) coalition was highly unlikely to topple their coalition in the capital despite recent reports that the two parties were working together to topple Da-led municipalities in the province.

No solid agreement

Recently the ANC and the EFF developed working relations however the sailing has not been smooth as they failed to win Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg despite having the numbers.

This was because the parties were still struggling to agree on who should take mayorship in Ekurhuleni, a move that has also affected the Johannesburg council.

Williams weighs in

Williams said they were not worried about the working relationship between the ANC and the EFF as they have a solid in Tshwane.

“For the ANC to put a coalition together, they need about eleven parties. The coalition in the metro is probably one of the most solid coalitions. There are only six parties that form our coalition. It would be very difficult for the ANC and the EFF to put a coalition together here,” said Williams.

“Even if the conditions that exist in Ekurhuleni and Joburg do not exist here, the dynamics here are different because they need far more parties for them to establish a coalition. In Johannesburg, they have nine coalition partners and it is very difficult to manage such a large coalition.”

On their coalition partner ActionSA, Williams said despite ActionSA leaders, including party leader Herman Mashaba announcing that they had a ‘Randall Williams problem’ than a coalition problem in Tshwane; he was still having a good relationship with MMC from ActionSA who serve in his mayoral committee.

READ MORE: An alternative to messy political coalitions

Leaked audio

The Tshwane mayor was accused by ActionSA of unlawfully instructing city officials over a multi-billion rand investment aimed to maintain and operate the Pretoria West and Rooiwal power substations to self-generate 800MW of electricity for the city.

In a leaked audio, Williams could be heard directing officials on how the tender should be handled.

“I do not work with Mashaba; he is not part of the government in the city. He plays no role in the city. I have three MMCs from ActionSA and we work very well together. Even at the caucus level, I have a very good relationship with the caucus leaders,” said Williams.

“I do not need to have a relationship with Mashaba, the person that needs to have a relationship with Mashaba is John Steenhuisen (DA party leader) because are at a different level and they are not involved in running the city.”

NOW READ: ActionSA lodges formal complaint against Mayor pertaining to power-generating proposal

Not guilty

He said Mashaba’s allegations that he was corrupt were not based on facts and he has been found not guilty of six of the eight charges he was accused of.

“Allegations were made against me and the party leaders decided to institute a formal investigation against me. They appointed two top advocates to do the investigation. A report was then released on the first week of November. Out of the eight allegations against me, six of them I was found not guilty,” he said.

“There were then two further allegations about me not having done something wrong criminally but me having bridged the councillor code of conduct which the Speaker has to investigate. I have the evidence that I did not bridge any councillor code of conduct.”

Williams said despite the public utterances Mahsaba made about him, he has not been specific about what problems he may have against him as the allegations made by Mashaba about him have been proven to be false.