EFF votes with DA at Joburg council meeting after boycott stance
As the EFF voted with the coalition, the ANC is said to have heckled from the opposition benches.
EFF supporters are seen marching from Church square to the Union Buildings, 8 August 2017, EFF members marched in support of the removal of the President, Jacob Zuma, Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles
Following a boycott of at least three Joburg council meetings, on Thursday morning the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) attended a meeting and voted with the coalition to pass Democratic Alliance (DA) mayor Herman Mashaba’s institutional review.
The EFF’s national leadership earlier this month had said the red berets would no longer attend council meetings at DA-led councils after the United Democratic Movement’s (UDM) Mongameli Bobani was ousted as Nelson Mandela Bay metro’s deputy mayor in a motion of no confidence that was brought by Patriotic Alliance (PA) councillor Marlon Daniels on August 24.
The parties that supported the motion with 60 votes in total were the DA, African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), and Congress of the People (COPE). The EFF and African National Congress (ANC) were incensed by the motion and walked out of the council chamber while voting was taking place.
The EFF said its decision to boycott DA-led councils was to teach the DA how to work with smaller coalition parties. The party accused the DA of demonstrating “an arrogance of power and white supremacy” in Nelson Mandela Bay.
According to BusinessLIVE, on Wednesday Mashaba appealed to the EFF to reconsider their decision to not attend council meetings‚ as the meeting would be adjourned again. He asked the party not to allow the ANC to collapse the council‚ saying it would affect the poor.
On Thursday, the DA and its coalition partners reportedly voted with a show of hands in support of the institutional review, which among its objectives deals with the reintegration of the city of Joburg’s entities.
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